Social Networking Websites Represent 19% of Hacking Incidents in H1 2009

As per a new study by security company 'Breach Security,' websites such as Twitter are being increasingly preferred by hackers to install harmful software for targeting systems.

A study conducted to analyze hacking episodes in H1 2009 has revealed that 19% of total hacking attempts were targeted at social networking websites, which have become the most frequently attacked vertical market. The study is an offspring of a new Web Hacking Incidents Database (WHID) report. In 2008, government and law enforcement agencies faced a substantial number of attacks.

Further, hackers were taking advantage of Web 2.0 features like user-generated content (which includes Twitter posts) to plan their attacks in H1 2009.

Meanwhile, Twitter has been targeted by numerous worms, and other social networking platforms like Facebook and MySpace have also been used to install malware on systems. This process of infecting computer is possible when an infected system starts posting links on social networking websites to other sites that are embedded with harmful software. Users click on the links as they believe that their friends who have posted them, but they are not aware that their friend have already been hacked.

As per the report, SQL injections are the leading attack vectors, accounting for around 1/5th (19%) of total security breaches. In addition, authentication became the second most favored attack vector with 11% of total attacks, while Cross Site Request Forgery (CSRF) ascended to the fifth place with 5% of overall reported attacks.

Director of Application Security Research for Breach Security, Ryan Barnett, said - the striking increase in cyber attacks against social networking websites is chiefly because of targets on famous new technologies such as Twitter, in which CSRF worms and cross-scripting are set free, as per the reports by BUSINESS WIRE on August 17, 2009.

Apart from this, being 2008 an important election year, government organizations became the most favorite attack targets for criminals and have now come down to number three.

The WHID has discovered spoiling sites is still the prime motivation for hackers. Besides, the WHID 2009 Bi-Annual report examined worldwide security incidents that took place from January 1 to July 31, 2009, a 30% rise in total web attacks against H1 2008.

Related article: SoCal Computer Hack Traces to Watsonville

» SPAMfighter News - 9/3/2009