If somebody could explain what the HELL SecDok is...

[googlemad]

Sigh...Found a rather interesting data entry job the other day with incredibly good pay (£10/hour) along with the advantage of working from home! Sent off my CV and just got the bad news:

Dear Applicant,

after carefully considering your application we
regret to inform you that we are unable to consider
your application at this time due to your inexperience
with SecDoK configuration of Windows XP platform.

Should you be able to demonstrate greater experience
with the SecDoK secured platform we may reconsider your
application at a future date. A good starting point would
be http://www.secdok.co.uk

Regards
Human Resources

SecDok is a totally new thing to me and I've been using Windows XP since Beta 1 when it was known as Whistler! The website dosen't exactly provide a wealth of information either .

From what I could tell it is basically just a custom way of Windows Update and using built in Windows XP tools to optimize performance!

Grr. This one is really baffling me

[SimpleSi]

I think its a scam.

It could make you think - mm - I'd better look into this - email them and at the very minimum your email address is sent to every spammer in the spammerverse 8O

regards

Simon

[SimpleSi]

Or even worse ...
Your the spammer and by visiting your site I've just infected myself with all sorts of things

regards

Simon

[derer1]

Never heard of this before I'm afraid - the only references I come up with are links to the site from someone's signature file on the Sysinternals forums.

Same persons signature links to http://www.certdok.co.uk/ - which is in a similar state.


Personally, I'd tread carefully.

[googlemad]

Right I've found out it is a scam

"As with all L'Amie certificates, assessment is comprised of a mixture of online tasks and exams. A score of 100% is required for all online tasks and exams before a certificate can be awarded. All tests/tasks can be repeated indefinitely until a pass is obtained. "

http://cert.lamie.org/

Sorry but 100% scores on every exam and task? I don't think so!

[googlemad]

Haha!

CV and Covering letter came back as 'Return to sender' in the mail today, nobody had even opened the envelope never mind looked at my CV.

So in a way they scammed me into buying a first class stamp for nothing

[Gatt]

hmmm. just did a WHOIS on the domain..

     Domain name:
         secdok.co.uk
 
     Registrant:
         Lamie Uk
 
     Registrant type:
         UK Individual
 
     Registrant's address:
         The registrant is a non-trading individual who has opted to have their
         address omitted from the WHOIS service.
 
     Registrant's agent:
         Schlund + Partner AG [Tag = SCHLUND]
         URL: http://registrar.schlund.info
 
     Relevant dates:
         Registered on: 04-Apr-2007
         Renewal date:  04-Apr-2009
         Last updated:  05-Apr-2007
 
     Registration status:
         Registration request being processed.
 
     Name servers:
         ns59.1and1.co.uk
         ns60.1and1.co.uk
 
     WHOIS lookup made at 19:24:23 14-Apr-2007

Doesn't look too legit to me...

[n00b]

I don't know anything about Lamie certificates or anything like that but I've been subscribed to SecDoK for a while and it's just basically access to a whole load of tutorials that teach you how to lockdown your Windows XP home installation for safe browsing and email and that kind of stuff. They also do some remote configuration for you once youve set the system up how they want it and check for rootkits and such like to make sure there are no hidden processes or key loggers on your home machine. I cant say that being subscribed to SecDoK has ever helped me get a job and personally have never seen an employer request it. I just use it because I don't know if I could be sure of keeping my own machine secure and clean as well as they seem to be able to do it. I haven't seen anything that makes me feel the company are scamming me in any way. The subscription fee is quite cheap and I got quite a lot for my money. The tutorials taught me about an awful lot of free software that I didn't know about before. I hope this helps you understand more about what SecDoK is. There's not much more to say about it really. Have you tried searching peer to peer networks? I'm sure their binaries must be in circulation somewhere.

[SimpleSi]

A post from a new poster calling themselves n00b with no signature really gives me confidence

If it looks,smells and sounds like ...... then ipso facto it is

Simon

[Andrew_C]

Did someone log that IP address?

[Ric_]

A post from a new poster calling themselves n00b with no signature really gives me confidence

PM sent!

[n00b]

Oh dear! Well that wasn't a very welcoming response. Sorry for trying to lend a hand to people without experience in the subject! I didn't realise this thread was dedicated to supporting conspiracy theories only. I'll not bother trying to help again if that's the kind of attitude I'm likely to receive.

Like I say, there are so many peer to peer networks out there I really don't understand why you just don't get their binaries and see for yourselves. While that may be less entertaining that playing internet detective it would actually give you the experience to know what you are talking about.

[Ric_]

@n00b: Please do not take this tone on the forum. I can only apologise for the comments made but we have had a number of people making advertising and suspect posts of late... something that annoys us ALL and we pride ourselves on not having these.

If you check your PMs you will also find that you have been requested to fill your profile details in so that this kind of confusion may be avoided.

I think it is also worth noting that, in this particular case, the op's suspicions had already been raised and the service on offer (that of a 3rd party managing the security of your home PC) did seem a little odd.

Please do not let this prevent you enjoying our community.


[/admin bit]

[SimpleSi]

[DELETED]

[n00b]

No worries! I'll try not to take it personally. This isn't the first forum I've seen where participants believe that anonymity warrants bad manners to newcomers. I've read the PMs and I had already filled in the personal information. It probably didn't show because I'd already made the last post before making the requested changes. Hopefully the signature will be visible in this post.

As regards security being managed by a third party, I didn't think it was such a bad idea at the time and to be honest, like I've already said, I get an awful lot for the tiny subscription I pay. And let's face it, I don't know about you guys, but I don't feel confident enough to be able to secure my home computer and I've never had any problems since I put things in their hands.