Social Networking Websites - Popular Attack Vector for Cybercriminals

Sean Wainer, Country Manager at security firm Check Point, said that social networking websites, such as Twitter and Facebook, represent a very strong attack vector for hackers, as per the statement published by itweb.co.za on June 30, 2010.

Wainer explained that these sites give a huge exposure, along with a fast as well as prolific distribution of information between the users. Thus, it becomes easy for hackers to distribute malicious links and launch various phishing attacks.

Malware circulated through social networking websites have comparatively higher chance to hit the targets than that sent through e-mails, noted Wainer. Considering the fact that Facebook has an average of 130 connections per user and that Twitter has 126 followers per user, social networking websites certainly offers a vast pool of potential victims as well as quite decent attack rate for hackers.

Another security firm Sophos' ASEAN Regional Sales Manager, Clarence Phua supported the Wainer's analysis. He said that cybercriminals are now increasingly targeting social networking sites to conduct nefarious activities, as per the news published by computerworld.co.nz in the last week of May 2010.

Hacked accounts on social networking sites are just like botnet-controlled computers. This makes these accounts precious to hackers, as they can use them to spread malware, send spam and steal users' identities, stated Phua.

Phua noted that 36% social networking users have admitted to experiencing malware assaults through their social networking profiles, an increase of 69.8% from 2009 levels.

Owing to the escalating incidences of use of social networking sites for cybercrime, Phua suggested to reassess their internal policy in regard of social media along with other Web 2.0 settings.

He said that although it's impossible for administrators to completely limit employees from accessing social networking sites, they can definitely impose some control.

A number of security firms, including BitDefender and Sophos, had claimed in the beginning of this year that social networking media is anticipated to be a very crucial attack vector in 2010. Now, with the figures released by Phua, the prediction is coming out to be true.

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» SPAMfighter News - 7/9/2010