(Photo: Facebook)

If you've recently received an email--not sent by your kooky aunt--with the subject line "Check out these kitties! :-)," you may have been the victim of a fake cyberattack. The Wall Street Journal reports that companies are hiring "ethical hackers" to build fake phishing scam emails to test which employees are dumb enough--or big enough cat lovers--to fall for them.

Users who click the link promising more cute cat pics are greeted with a gotcha warning: you've been the victim of a simulated cyberattack, ya dummy. If you want cute cat pics, just Google for 'em.

But the deception goes much deeper. Companies can hire firms like Trustwave Holdings, which will do everything from randomly scattering USB drives around to see if employees stick them in their computers to dressing up in disguises to dupe security. Trustwave's Ryan Jones keeps an arsenal of costumes and frequently employs crutches to "persuade sympathetic people to open locked doors."

He's basically the Gene Parmesan of cybersecurity.

The moral of this story? Never trust a man with crutches asking you to "have a peek at the server room."

(Photo: Adult Cat Finder)

Adult Friend Finder might purport to help you find hot local singles in your area (and also clutter the screen with annoying popup fake IMs when you're trying to watch porn), but what if you're looking for a friend of the feline persuasion?

That's where Adult Cat Finder comes in:

Are you having a hard time finding local cats in your area? Do you wish there was a way to connect instantly with one online, at any time? Now you can! With Adult Cat Finder, you're never more than one click away from chatting with a hot, local cat in your area!

It's the easiest way to find your purrrrfect mate (as long as your idea of a sexy cyber sesh is getting bombarded by "meows").

(h/t Fark)

(Photo: Alley Cat Allies)

A group of cats rights activists are decidedly not amused by the recent backlash against the Internet's favorite mascot. Last week, the New York Times ran a story called "That Cuddly Kitty Is Deadlier Than You Think" based on a Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute report, which set off a firestorm of “Cats are killers!” stories--angering cat ladies everywhere.

Cat advocates refuse to stand for this breed of anti-cat propaganda, and they intend to do something about. In a newsletter sent out by the Maryland-based cat charity Alley Cat Allies, the Times and its ilk are taken to task for publishing "junk science" that was "authored by researchers with an anti-cat track record." They maaaaad, bro.

Alley Cat Allies relies on a system called “Trap-Neuter-Return," which they say has lead to a reduced number of feral cats being trapped and sent to kill shelters. The group claims the recent stories decrying murderous felines are based on "biased research that could lead to more outdoor cats being rounded up and killed." They also claim the study cites a researcher who was "convicted and fired for trying to poison cats." Yikes.

"We cannot stand for cats to be scapegoats," reads the outraged newsletter, which directs readers to a link where they can sign a petition asking the Smithsonian to disavow the study. Hey now, let's not bring the goat lobby into this.

(Photo: Veterinary Practice News)

A clever hacker has dispatched Japan's National Police Agency on a fruitless chase to find him after he sent emails from various computers that included bomb threats against elementary schools. According to Wired, the agency has released a bounty of 3 million Yen (about $34,000) for the capture of the anonymous hacker, who has evaded them for months by sending the threatening messages using a computer virus that allows him to control terminals remotely.

Said hacker's latest mic drop moment? Attaching a memory card to the collar of a stray cat because that's just how hard he balls.

The hacker has been sending clues and quizzes to journalists across the country, engaging them in a cat-and-mouse game (heh) to track down his whereabouts. Police obtained a set of email clues on Saturday and used them to determine the location of the felonious feline. The memory card reportedly contains special information regarding iesys.exe, the virus the hacker has used to remotely control computers and send the threats without fear of his location being uncovered.

We eagerly await the indie film that will immortalize this convergence of all things Internet--starring perennial investor Ashton Kutcher as the cat, natch.

Cats! Cats! Cats!H

All but the most obsessive cat ladies surely recognize that unless your kitty is Maru, you can only post so many pictures before you start hemorrhaging Facebook friends. It's a dilemma for which there is now a solution: Catmoji, a newly launched niche social network (with an interface that works a lot like Pinterest) built solely for the purpose of sharing photos and videos of cats.

"The Internet loves cats, we also love cats and cats make people happy," Malaysian-based founders Matthew Phiong and Koekoe Loo explained via email. "Our mission is to make the Internet a better and happier place with cats."

(Screencap: YouTube)

The Los Angeles Times published an excellent piece today surveying the landcape of YouTube-famous cats, including the moody Henri, the box-loving Maru and Lil' Bub, who just cannot keep his little tongue in his mouth. Buried in the middle of the article, however, is an interesting tidbit about the history of cat videos. Though the first was probably uploaded to the Internet during the latter half of the 20th century, the LA Times reports that the first-ever cat video was recorded by Thomas Edison, he of lightbulb fame.

Created in 1894 to be viewed on a kinetoscope, an early motion picture exhibition device that Mr. Edison invented, the video showcased a 20-second moving picture of cats fighting in boxing gloves. It looks a lot like something you'd see on YouTube these days, minus the black and white grainy quality. Kitties wearing boxing gloves are positioned in a mini boxing ring and they begin the familiar cat game of paw punching.

The Library of Congress digitized the video and uploaded it to YouTube back in 2009. This is a piece of cat history, guys. Show some respect.

Political power? Purrfect. (Photo: Facebook)

Social media has played an increasingly important role in elections over the years--just ask the Obama campaign for confirmation on that. But there's one frisky feline who's using the platform to drum up support for a Halixfax mayoral campaign. Meet Tuxedo Stan the cat: He's running for mayor in Canada, because why the fuck not?

Mr. Stan began his campaign back in June when he founded the Tuxedo Party, hoping to raise awareness about improving "the welfare of felines 'because neglect isn't working.'" So far, he's amassed close to 1,000 Facebook fans and has established an entire political machine surrounding his platform. There's tons of campaign swag, including buttons, signs and tshirts. Mr. Stan even has an international outfit over in the Netherlands. And he did it all with the help of an active Facebook page.

In addition to addressing the stray cat problem in Halifax, Mr. Stan has also adopted a firm formal wear platform: "Tuxedos will be mandatory at city hall when I'm elected mayor," he wrote on his Facebook page. "We need to improve our image."

When reached for comment, Mr. Stan said, "Meow."

Maru (Photo: Cosmically Chic)

"If one has set out to say something definitive about the relationship between cats and the Internet, it’s important not to be delayed indefinitely by Internet cats," writes Gideon Lewis-Kraus in a thousands-word long Wired piece about cats on the Internet. He studied the cultural impact of Internet cats in Japan, and traveled there to meet with a famous cat band. It is glorious.

Sadly, Maru declined to be interviewed for the piece.

(Photo: ipetcompanion.com)

If you've always wanted a furry fluffball to call your very own, but logistical issues like allergies or a significant other who is decidedly not a cat person got in your way, the internet--as always--has a solution for you. It's called iPet Companion, and it allows you to use your computer to play with kitties that are hundreds of miles away.

Shelters around the country (and apparently people who just like to watch their cats lounge while they work) can install iPet Companion, which allows your computer to control a webcam focused on the kitties, as well as robotic toys. By clicking on a toy, the computer sends a signal to the robot in the room, which will shake the toy, hopefully inciting some playful joy from any cats nearby.

Shelters in a handful of towns--including NYC--have installed iPet Companion, which claims to increase both sustained web traffic and actual physical adoptions. "iPet Companion's mission is to end homelessness of animals nationwide," reads the site. "Play with shelter pets that need love live over the Internet."

The iPet Companion can be purchased for cats for $345.95 or dogs for $395. Unfortunately, all of the units are currently out of stock, so you'll only be able to sign up for the next production run.

Of course, no matter how well iPet Companion works, it can't make a sleepy cat play. We tried to get the kitties at the Michigan Humane Society to bat around a few toys, but they weren't having any of it.  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

(h/t xojane)

Internet Defense League: Assemble.

Last night, Betabeat checked ourselves in with a nebbishy man holding an iPad, rode the elevator up to "PH" with another nebbishy man (a copy of The Leaderless Revolution tucked under his arm) and arrived upstairs at the Internet Defense League's New York launch party, just as the OpenPlans roofdeck was beginning to fill up.

It was one of those rooftops that aren't quite at the top of the world--in fact, we could see the tealights of another party happening several stories up, right next door--but rather one of those that leave you hovering smack in the middle of the skyline, feeling pleasantly loomed-over.

"It really looks like Gotham," observed one attendee--though a cleaned-up version, surely. We can't imagine Batman existing in a city with such a carefully landscaped roofdeck. The edges were covered in those wildflowerish grasses that grace the High Line, giving the whole place the feel of a rendering displayed in the lobby of a particularly hip school of architecture. Not entirely surprising, given OpenPlans' mission is to "help cities work better."

It quickly became clear that about half the crowd was there not to fight for Internet freedom, but rather for OpenPlans' happy hour. We struck up a conversation with a soft-spoken gentleman holding a large bowl of popcorn, who explained that he worked with a nonprofit that deals with "public spaces," and that he'd come from another party on a neighboring deck. (We hope he rappelled, Batman-style.)

But the occasional snatch of conversation made it clear we were among the techies: "I was programming in BASIC when I was 10," we overheard at one point, followed shortly thereafter by, "I'm pretty sure Facebook is culture." We heard at least one enthusiastic young man (college-aged, we figured) describing himself as "crazy" for the New York startup scene.

We started talking to a Laptop Magazine writer named Daniel Berg, there on behalf of his own personal blog (and hoping for a chance to meet Reddit cofounder Alexis Ohanian). He admitted that the name and the concept were "a little cheesy," but, given the difficulty of staying on top of every new political development, it provides a valuable rallying point.

"I can focus on my day-to-day job, and I can focus on everything else, and know that I am tuned in that if there is something important going on, I'll immediately be aware, my website will immediately be a part of the movement, and I can just leave it in the hands of people that I trust," he said.

We wouldn't have time for following the SOPA opera if we had Mr. Berg's schedule, either: He recently competed in the AngelHack competition, building a kind of Rotten Tomatoes for hotel reviews, called the Stayover. (They made it to the finals in San Francisco, but didn't quite nab the pot of funding at the end of the rainbow.)

At this point, the party was well and truly warmed up, with the roof deck getting crowded and the drinks growing scarce. Another man wandered up and told us that he'd looked up and recognized someone at the snack table, only to realize--after starting to speak--that it was in fact Jeff Jarvis, with whom he was not personally acquainted. We looked up to see Mr. Ohanian making his way through the crowd, with general manager Erik Marin barreling after him. Circulating once more, we fell into conversation with a developer (slight and fair-haired) and community manager (impressively bearded) from Turntable.fm.

If only this reporter were able to follow the finer points of the programming language Ruby, she might've learned something.

About that time came the event we'd all been waiting for (well, those of us who were there for the Internet Defense League, rather than the OpenPlans' get-together): The unveiling of the cat signal. Several sites have already adopted the digital version, a few lines of code that'll switch on if the IDL detects anything it deems a new SOPA-style threat to the open web. But it's hard to match a giant, crazy-eyed cat projected onto the side of a Manhattan building for sheer spectacle.

Mr. Ohanian, making a few remarks.

After leaning over the edge for a good look, we practically bumped into Mr. Martin--who does, as another attendee pointed out, look the the tiniest bit like Tintin's sidekick, Haddock.

"This is fun, and, like, the cat signal thing is fun. But people are out here because they want to be a part of something," he told us. "It's cool to see people actually, like, get out and support this." Betabeat remarked on how nice IRL events are, to which Mr. Martin replied, "Yeah, which is weird, cause we're about defending the Internet."

He returned to floating about the party, while groups continued to form and reform around Mr. Ohanian. Finally giving up on catching him alone, Betabeat crept up to eavesdrop. Here's what we learned: Mr. Ohanian is, for lack of a better term, a complete cat lady. An earnest young woman had gotten him onto the subject of Karma (get it?), his beloved black cat. "She's a diva," he informed us, adding that "she's waiting for me at home." Whipping out his phone to show everyone a picture, he confessed she used to be the background, but "it got weird."

Someone pulled him back to the topic of the IDL, which he explained simply as designed to deal with "anything that threatens to fuck up the Internet." That's a pretty broad mandate.

Then the aforementioned startup-crazed young man asked Mr. Ohanian for tips about how to "make it." Mr. Ohanian immediately began preaching the gospel of programming. Developers, he explained, are like Jay-Z. Everyone wants a minute of his time, or his advice, or his presence, and Jay-Z can't do it all. Learn enough Ruby to get a quick and dirty prototype up and running, and, "No offense, but if I'm a developer, I'll have more respect for you."

All the while, a tall, pony-tailed acolyte nodded his agreement. "Listen to this man," he chimed in.

Making one last round of the room, we bumped into Nick Grossman, the event's organizer, who told us he's affiliated with Union Square Ventures and the MIT Media Lab, but working on a new advocacy organization, "focused on innovation and the open web." Even he admitted the event's sweep was wide: "The purpose of all of these events, as far as I understand it, is to get people excited about the web and standing up for the web," he said.

He had a positive spin on the mixed crowd: "Everybody for both events I think shares a certain ethos about openness and creativity and the potential of things like the web and open systems and collaboration, et cetera, et cetera," he said.

By this time, the party had long since peaked and was winding down to a few stragglers. Mr. Ohanian, however, was still surrounded.

We hope they didn't keep him from Karma too late.