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Spammers Use Additional Communication Means to Target Social Networks

According to a research by Cloudmark, the messaging specialist, and Researcher Harris, spammers are currently focusing on an array of other communication channels apart from e-mails, as reported by Computing on June 9, 2008.

Also, according to the research, spam is obstructing social networks to set a potential obstruction to future growth. spammers are continuously using other modes of interaction along with e-mail to augment spam on sites for social networking.

Jamie de Guerre, CTO, Cloudmark notes that the survey should raise concern to both operators of social-networking sites and people using them, as reported by AppScout on June 9, 2008.

According to Guerre, social-networking sites need to think about the growing spam and the resultant phishing attacks as well as proactively deal with the security threat falling usage and earnings.

According to statistics, over 83%, every four in five users of social-networking sites, received spam posing as friends' messages, invitations, or postings to their account over the twelve months (May 2007-May 2008). Further, the number of spam messages reportedly reaching average users during the same period was 64 spam.

The research also indicates that the problem is so severe that 66% of users want to switch to a different social-networking site. The capabilities of social networks such as the wide range of communication modes, a large sized audience, and easy access to the platforms make these sites successful and attracting hackers and spammers. While each of these site aims to increase its membership, the same mechanisms that boost user interaction could be misused for sending spam.

Meanwhile, a major 80% of users on social networks are somewhat worried about virus, spam and phishing attacks potentially targeting their social or official account. As many as 37% of users have noticed that the amount of inbound junk messages to their accounts increased in the last six months (December 2007-May 2008). And, nearly 17% of users say that the growth in spamming operations through social-networking sites is considerably high.

Moreover, over 83% of users received no less than one mail as spam through a social-networking site in 2007.

Related article: Spammers Continue their Campaigns Successfully

» SPAMfighter News - 6/21/2008

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