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You and just about everyone else, it seems, are spending more and more time on Facebook and Twitter, updating statuses and checking “tweets”. But, the amount of personal information that you share pose particular security and privacy problems.
A recenty study by Sophos found that Facebook users reveal a lot of personal information to new friends, including ones they really don’t even know or have never met. Using fake profiles, Sophos sent out friend requests to 100 random Facebook users, and more than 40 percent blindly accepted, giving the company access to birth dates, e-mail addresses, phone numbers and addresses. This is considered private information that strangers should not have.
With the openness of Twitter anyone can follow anyone else, and posts are indexed in search engines. This makes the job of spammers easier. According to Kaspersky Lab, a leading internet security company, “there are nearly 500,000 new links to websites that appear in Twitter posts daily. Of those, anywhere between 100 and 1,000 are malware attacks.”
The biggest malware problem that My Tech Team has been resolving is Koobface. Koobface is a worm that targets social sites and affects Windows computers. When a computer is infected, it hijacks the Facebook account and sends messages to your friends, enticing them to click on a link. The link redirects to a web site where they are prompted to download software in order to watch a video. However, there is no video. The malware infects the system, blocks access to security sites, and steals sensitive information from your computer. The process then repeats itself from the infected machines. “Koobface now has the ability to automatically create new profiles using the infected computer”, says Rik Ferguson, a security researcher at Trend Micro.
Social engineering is a big problem for social networking sites because the trust that users have for messages and posts from friends can be easily exploited by cyber crooks.
SO WHAT IS THE SOLUTION?
- Use antivirus and anti-malware software and keep it up to date
- Install security updates for your operating system and other software
- Use software to protect yourself against phishing and malware attacks
- Use an up-to-date browser
- Beware of where you enter your password
- Check to see that you are logging in from a legitimate Facebook page
- Be wary of unusual stories or offers that are too good to be true
- Be cautious of any messages, posts, or links that look suspicious
Twitter has many of the same malware, phishing, hijacking, and social engineering issues that Facebook has, and the solutions for those problems are the same. Security appears to be a worrisome issue with Twitter. The site has had several problems from accounts being compromised. In January, someone hacked into the Twitter internal network and gained access to the Twitter accounts of President Obama, CNN anchor Rick Sanchez, and 31 other high-profile Twitter accounts. In May, someone broke into the Twitter network and gained access to 10 accounts, which included Brittney Spears and Ashton Kutcher. Just last week, Twitter was hacked and the site was used to redirect visitors to a page displaying a banner for the “Iranian Cyber Army“.
The bottom line is, Twitter users are susceptible to getting their accounts hijacked. All social networking sites are susceptible to serious security problems. For instance, last week 32 million passwords stored in plain text on the RockYou site were exposed. Because the passwords are used on other affiliate sites, the breach jeopardized other accounts, like Gmail, Hotmail, and Yahoo.
My Tech Team actively ensures that protective solutions are in place. Our customers enjoy a worry-free computing experience. Not one of our customers? Sign Up Now!
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