Misplaced Pages

#693306

36-498: Wiki-PR was a consulting firm that marketed the ability to edit Misplaced Pages by "directly edit[ing] your page using our network of established Misplaced Pages editors and admins". It received media attention in 2013 after a sockpuppet investigation resulted in more than 250 Misplaced Pages user accounts being blocked or banned. The Wikimedia Foundation changed its terms of use in the wake of the investigation, requiring anyone paid to edit Misplaced Pages to openly disclose their affiliations. Despite

72-437: A profit margin for the consulting firm. Clients are looking to procure or purchase external help and assistance. Consulting firms sustain their revenues from a labour economic point of view as a method for distributing labour, where certain positions, roles or fields of expertise within the labour market find it more suitable for contract work, as contrasted to in-house employment, for a few conceivable reasons: Aside from

108-519: A false impression of credibility . The same websites were used repeatedly, and their presence in various Misplaced Pages articles aided investigators in identifying articles the company had worked on. The investigation led to the Misplaced Pages community blocking hundreds of paid Misplaced Pages editing accounts believed to be connected to Wiki-PR that had edited contrary to Misplaced Pages's rules. In 2014 The New York Times described Wiki-PR's methods: [Wiki-PR] uses

144-402: A form of software that enables illegitimate access to computer networks, enables the monitoring of victims' online activities, and may lock infected devices. Black hat hackers can be involved in cyber espionage or protests in addition to pursuing personal or financial gain. For some hackers, cybercrime may be an addictive experience. One of the earliest and most notorious black hat hacks was

180-523: A grey hat, nor will it instruct others on how to do so; however, the grey hat may trade this information for personal gain. A special group of gray hats are hacktivists , who hack to promote social change. The ideas of "white hat" and "black hat" hackers led to the use of the term "grey hat" at the end of the 1990s. Another difference between these types of hackers is how they find vulnerabilities. The black hat will break into any system or network to uncover sensitive information for personal gain, whereas

216-406: A lot of people, with different identities, to edit pages for paying customers and to manage those pages. The paid sock puppets are ready to pounce on edits that don't adhere to the client's vision. In The Wall Street Journal , French was quoted as saying that Wiki-PR is a research and writing firm, counseling clients on "how to adhere to Misplaced Pages's rules". French said that its paid work is part of

252-415: A management consultant is usually recommendations for achieving a company objective, leading to a company project. Many consulting firms complement the recommendations with implementation support, either by the consultants or by technicians and other experts. Consulting services are part of the professional services and account for several hundred billion dollars in annual revenues. Between 2010 and 2015,

288-495: A webpage (such as on the homepage or in metadata tags ) to make it appear more relevant for particular keywords, deceiving people who visit the site. Link farming occurs when multiple websites or pages link to a particular website. This is done to profit from the pay-per-click (PPC) advertisements on these websites or pages. The issue is that the links only point to the specific website because it promises something in return, when in fact they are only there to increase traffic to

324-589: Is a black hat practice that can threaten the trust of Wikimedia's volunteers and readers. We have serious concerns about the way that such editing affects the neutrality and reliability of Misplaced Pages ." Later in 2014, a number of large PR firms pledged to follow Misplaced Pages's new and existing guidelines. Consulting firm Management consultants, in particular, typically work with company executives and provide them with generalists and industry-specific specialists, known as subject-matter experts , usually trained in management or in business schools. The deliverable of

360-406: Is a computer hacker who violates laws or ethical standards for nefarious purposes, such as cybercrime , cyberwarfare , or malice. These acts can range from piracy to identity theft . A Black hat is often referred to as a "cracker". The term originates from 1950s westerns , with "bad guys" (criminals) typically depicted as having worn black hats and "good guys" (heroes) wearing white ones. In

396-534: Is a form of black hat SEO that involves using software to inject backlinks to a website into search engine results. This is done solely to raise the website's ranking in search engines. A redirect link is considered unethical if it takes the user to a webpage different from the one indicated in the link. For instance, it is unethical to have a link that should take the user to the website "ABC" but instead takes them to "XYZ". Users are tricked into following an unintended path, even though they might not be interested in

SECTION 10

#1732764998694

432-547: Is a significant difference between efficiency between consulting firms in America ( developed economy ) and consulting firms in Asia Pacific regions (emerging economy). Efficiency scores of consulting firms in America were significantly higher than consulting firms in Asia Pacific regions. This is because firms in developed economies have better infrastructure, organisation and education, thus advice given by consulting firms

468-462: Is also a prevalent sales argument for consulting services. It is common practice for consulting firms to be involved in the sale of outsourcing services as well. Similarly, outsourcing firms may offer consulting services as a way to help integrate their services with the client. Many consulting firms offer several service packages as part of their business portfolio . While consulting services and outsourcing services are compatible, issues arise if

504-528: Is often sold on the dark web . Malware can also be used to hold computers hostage or destroy files. Some hackers may also modify or destroy data in addition to stealing it. While hacking has become an important tool for governments to gather intelligence, black hats tend to work alone or with organized crime groups for financial gain. Black hat hackers may be novices or experienced criminals. They are usually competent infiltrators of computer networks and can circumvent security protocols . They may create malware,

540-534: Is to assist the organization. While a black hat will illegally exploit a vulnerability or instruct others on how to do so, a white hat hacker will only exploit it with permission and will not reveal its existence until it has been fixed. Teams known as "sneakers and/or hacker clubs," "red teams," or "tiger teams" are also common among white-hat hackers. A grey hat is a hacker who typically does not have malicious intent but often violates laws or common ethical standards. A vulnerability will not be illegally exploited by

576-449: Is unclear, in part because of the upheavals that have occurred in this industry in recent years. One approach is to separate services into five broad service delivery families, considering the managers they are targeting: A consulting firm's model of business may be compared to staffing , wherein the objective is to lower labour costs for clients for an intended result, or relative to an intended result or output, in order to charge for

612-488: Is used efficiently. Many consulting firms provide services across a range of industries. Notable firms include KPMG , Boston Consulting Group , Deloitte , PwC , and Ernst & Young . There is also a myriad of other smaller and more niche firms including Ecorys , YABX , and Westcliffe Strategic . These firms often offer solutions to smaller businesses rather than the big consulting companies. Black hat practice A black hat ( black hat hacker or blackhat )

648-637: The Wikimedia Foundation , stated that the Foundation was "exploring our options". On November 19, 2013, Wikimedia's law firm, Cooley LLP , emailed a cease-and-desist letter to Wiki-PR. French told The Guardian that Wiki-PR "is working with the Wikimedia Foundation and its counsel to sort this out", and hoped to have further information in a week's time. The Wikimedia Foundation acknowledged communicating with Wiki-PR, but

684-854: The "fabric" of Misplaced Pages, complementing the work of unpaid volunteers. French acknowledged that Wiki-PR had sometimes made "bad calls" on the notability of articles. He also said that "We do pay hundreds of other editors for their work—they're real people and not sockpuppets." Instead, as was reported by the International Business Times , Wiki-PR had been involved in "meatpuppetry"—a practice in which editors illegitimately encourage other individuals to edit in support of their position—in addition to planting articles online to try to garner better potential notability for its clients. As of October 25, 2013, Wiki-PR, including all of its employees, contractors, and owners, were banned from editing Misplaced Pages. Sue Gardner , executive director of

720-434: The 10 largest consulting firms alone made 170 billion dollars growth revenue and the average annual growth rate is around 4%. According to The Economist , the industry’s most important firms are the "Great eight" consulting firms which consist of Bain , BCG , McKinsey , Deloitte , EY , KPMG , PwC and Accenture . The segmentation of advisory services varies widely across organizations and countries. Categorization

756-563: The 1979 hacking of The Ark by Kevin Mitnick . The Ark computer system was used by Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) to develop the RSTS/E operating system software. The WannaCry ransomware attack in May 2017 is another example of black hat hacking. Around 400,000 computers in 150 countries were infected within two weeks. The creation of decryption tools by security experts within days limited

SECTION 20

#1732764998694

792-423: The Foundation rejected any implication that they were negotiating with Wiki-PR, saying that if Wiki-PR wanted to continue editing, Wiki-PR must turn to Misplaced Pages's community. In June 2014, the Wikimedia Foundation updated its terms of use, forbidding undisclosed paid editing and requiring any paid editors to disclose their affiliation. The blog post announcing the change stated that "Undisclosed paid advocacy editing

828-802: The Misplaced Pages presence of more than 12,000 clients. Wiki-PR has been reported to use "aggressive email marketing " to acquire new customers. An investigation of sockpuppet accounts on Misplaced Pages that began in 2012 implicated hundreds of accounts. Wiki-PR's involvement was confirmed after four customers of Wiki-PR spoke anonymously to The Daily Dot journalist Simon Owens, and two others, Priceline.com and Emad Rahim, spoke to Vice journalist Martin Robbins. In addition to violating rules against sockpuppeting, Wiki-PR violated Misplaced Pages rules by citing articles that were planted on business content farms and various other websites that accept contributions from any Internet user as sources for Misplaced Pages entries, creating

864-544: The ban, Status Labs , a firm started in 2012 by Wiki-PR founders Fisher and French, continued to edit clients' Misplaced Pages articles according to former employees. Wiki-PR has been inactive since 2013. Wiki-PR was created in 2010 by Darius Fisher, its chief operating officer as of 2014, and Jordan French, its chief executive officer as of 2014. Confirmed clients include Priceline and Emad Rahim, and suspected clients include Viacom , among many others. The firm claimed to have Misplaced Pages administrator access enabling it to manage

900-494: The clients are not aware of the differences between the two. From an ethical standpoint, it is important that clients are aware of what type or types of services they are procuring , as consulting services are meant to be a complementary service to the client firm, whereas outsourcing effectively aims to replace parts of the client firm that are imperative to their operational ability. There are different types of consulting firms serving different sectors. They mainly fall under

936-489: The dark web, or extort money from businesses, government agencies, or individuals. The United States experienced a record number of 1,862 data breaches in 2021, according to the Identity Theft Resource Center's 2021 Data Breach Report. Data breaches have been on the rise for some time . From 2013 to 2014, black hat hackers broke into Yahoo and stole 3 billion customer records, making it possibly

972-428: The desired website and its popularity. These websites are unethical and will damage the credibility of the website's other pages, possibly reducing its income potential. Shrouding involves showing different content to clients and web search tools. A website may present search engines with information irrelevant to the website's real content. This is done to boost the website's visibility in search results. Spamdexing

1008-450: The economic arguments stated above, consulting also acts as a corporate services model: consequently acting as a source of profit for clients, consulting firms and society as proffered. The consulting business model can be seen as a result of the knowledge economy , and as a subset of the knowledge industry . Today it is not rare for consulting firms to offer what may be considered turnkey solutions to clients. Knowledge transfer

1044-429: The extortion payments to approximately $ 120,000, or slightly more than 1% of the potential payout. The notable data breaches typically published by major news services are the work of black hat hackers. In a data breach, hackers can steal the financial, personal, or digital information of customers, patients, and constituents. The hackers can then use this information to smear a business or government agency, sell it on

1080-500: The following fields: Some consulting firms also serve niche sectors, such as: In 2013, there was a randomized trial in Mexico where 432 small and medium enterprises were allowed access to management consulting services for one year. As a result of this trial, there were many positive impacts. Such positive impacts include: increase in entrepreneurial spirit, increases in employment and higher wages for employees. Even after 5 years after

1116-558: The largest data breach ever. In addition, the adult website Adult FriendFinder was hacked in October 2016, and over 412 million customer records were taken. A data breach that occurred between May and July 2017 exposed more than 145 million customer records, making the national credit bureau Equifax another victim of black hat hacking. One of the most famous black hat methods is to utilize nasty " doorway pages ", which are intended to rank highly for specific search queries. Accordingly,

Wiki-PR Misplaced Pages editing scandal - Misplaced Pages Continue

1152-588: The most of the advice given. Advice given by consulting firms to clients may not be used efficiently as clients firms in emerging markets tend to suffer due to a lack of infrastructure, organisation, and education. Another reason firms in emerging economies struggle to effectively use consulting services is that innovation is very costly and risky. As noted above , consulting firms in emerging economies do also have positive impacts. Positive impacts include: increases in employment, increase in entrepreneurial spirit and higher wages for employees. One study shows that there

1188-567: The same way, black hat hacking is contrasted with the more ethical white hat approach to hacking. Additionally, there exists a third category, called grey hat hacking , characterized by individuals who hack, usually with good intentions but by illegal means. Criminals who intentionally enter computer networks with malicious intent are known as "black hat hackers". They may distribute malware that steals data (particularly login credentials), financial information, or personal information (such as passwords or credit card numbers). This information

1224-452: The substance of these doorway pages is stowed away from both the clients and the web indexes. Doorway pages are designed to deceive search engines so that they cannot index or rank a website for synonymous keywords or phrases. Another form of black hat search engine optimization (SEO) is known as keyword stuffing, which involves repeatedly using the same keywords to try to trick search engines. This tactic involves using irrelevant keywords on

1260-492: The trial, positive impacts are still active. These results were achieved by advertising a consulting program to 432 enterprises and recorded data on the positive effects. The impact of consulting firms on local businesses in emerging economies do not always have positive effects. One reason for this is that firms in emerging economies suffer from the inferiority of their technologies and innovation capabilities, thus, although they have access to consulting firms, they cannot make

1296-442: The website they land on. An ethical security hacker is referred to as a white hat or white hat hacker. The term " ethical hacking " is meant to mean more than just penetration testing. White hat hackers aim to discover any flaws in the current system with the owner's permission. Many organizations engage white hat hackers to enhance their network security through activities such as vulnerability assessments . Their primary objective

#693306