More Computer Worms, Viruses Expected To Target Social Networks

[Judee]

More computer worms, viruses expected to target social networks

January 15, 2010 By Bridget Carey Social networkers of the world, it's time to amp up your security software and put on your cynical cap before clicking on friend requests and links to "funny videos." Facebook and Twitter will be the top targets for cyber attacks in 2010, according to several security firms.

Networks like Facebook are a gold mine of information for identity theft scams. You may have stumbled upon a cyberattack or two before on Facebook. It's usually an inbox message from someone you don't talk to often, with the message: "Hey is this you in this video? LOLZ!!!" followed by a strange link with random letters in it.

Click on the link, and it can take you to a site that will download a program designed to steal your personal information and spread the malicious link to all your Facebook connections, without you even knowing it. The Koobface worm was one such program. In 2009, the CA Internet Security Business Unit found more than 100 mutated strains of that worm.

But it's more than just inbox links. It can be a friend request from a fake account, or an invitation to an event that takes you to a page that looks like a Facebook event, but instead takes you to a page to download something.

Full Story:
http://www.physorg.com/news182786035.html

[VOguy]

It's sort of getting ridiculous, and making a lot of on-line experiences unproductive.

The big problem is like we talked about with big corporations and business unable to service customers, when a site like Facebook, Myspace, Classmates, and others gets a trojan placed on it, it can be weeks before it's fixed. Meanwhile people get infected, and they are less likely to come back to the site once they figure out where it came from.

[Judee]

It's sort of getting ridiculous, and making a lot of on-line experiences unproductive.

In a way VO, I'm lucky to be on dial-up. If I go to a site, and my computer starts revving up, and sits there, I know something knarly is trying to come in. I get right off. With high speed, a virus downloads so quickly, the user doesn't even notice it. Good old dial-up won't do that, and gives the user time to get off. Guess there's good in everything, right?

[VOguy]

Yeah.

I think Penn Teller was right. He had a saying once about the Internet was the portal to all the derelicts, except you didn't experience the smell.

I was on music site today looking for an acoustic bass pickup, and the damn site would not only not let me navigate away from the site, but tried to change my home page.

[Topper]

Without a doubt Penn was right.

Here's the latest and I'm not sure how this related to Googles email mess
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8469632.stm