Social Gaming, More of a Security Threat

BitDefender states that social gaming is now more of a new bait for cyber felons who are using it to gather user data and then to spread malware.

As social networks are evolving at a fast pace, social gaming is also gaining fame and are giving cyber crooks, an all new opportunity to accumulate a treasure trove of users' personal information which can be well exploited in identity theft and social engineering scams, security firm BitDefender said.

Catalin Cosoi, BitDefender senior researcher, said that cyber crooks now create false identities to engage users who are willing to play social gaming applications. After gathering users' information, these cyber miscreants use the collected details to craft phishing attacks, which entice unwary users to the malware-laden websites, by including the personal details of the user that supposedly only someone who is aware that particular user would have successfully gained access, as per the news published by April 13, 2010.

BitDefender also said that often social gaming users use fan pages, groups and communication channels in order to augment their online cooperation and interaction. This is the fact which Internet fraudsters are always keen to exploit. Also, unwary users, with the aim to extend their communication circle, are much likely to accept these spammers in their list of friends in a social network compared to any other online communication environment.

Besides, to make users believe them, spammers are creating social network profiles which are more realistic in approach, like including loads of information and images. Members of social networks can be easily foxed to include spammers to their profiles.

Security experts said that security implications are many, varying from integration and rise of spamming power, accounts hijacking, identity and data theft, to malware distribution.

Experts also said that malware is like any disease, it propagates at places where humans come together. We, as human beings, always take steps to guard public safety to prevent infectious diseases from spreading. We shall follow the same attitude to safeguard the cyber space as well. First of all, it is better if a user verifies from a third party without adding a person to the profile. It is far better to validate if this friend is really an individual rather than a botnet attempting to entice a user into a Web trap.

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» SPAMfighter News - 4/24/2010