Major internet security software company AVG Technologies has started a new online campaign to help University students with the threat of status jacking on Facebook.

For all companies in the internet security software sector, coping with the threats on Facebook and other social bookmarking websites has become a key concern. The problem of Facebook status is an age-old problem for users of the website. ‘Status jacking’ comes about by stolen or misplaced account information being used by a friend or a criminal to post embarrassing or personal statuses on someone else’s Facebook.

The campaign began after, research carried out by AVG’s ‘Threat Labs’, highlighted the serious threat social networking sites pose to internet users. AVG Threat Labs found that there were 19,491 compromised web pages on the 50 top global social networking websites. 11,701 of these can be found on Facebook, which still resides as top dog in the social networking hierarchy. Just behind Facebook was YouTube, the popular video sharing website, with 7,163 of the compromised web pages.

It is easy to see why students are the most at risk from having their statuses hijacked on Facebook; Facebook’s majority of members are of the 18-25 age bracket, with the website being popular with this student age group the world over.

Ambassador of Free Tony Anscombe said: “The fact that we found almost 20,000 compromised web pages on the world’s most popular social networking sites should make social media users sit up and take notice. In particular, it is the audience most active on these sites, those under 25 years old who are most at risk. Our campaign will involve further research showing that only a few students take proper social network precautions, as well as a series of informative but also fun, guides and videos.”

Of course, to make matters worse, research also points to another worrying statistic. 18-25 year olds are well established as being the age group least likely to protect themselves against internet security threats; many are sloppy when it comes to keeping their computer’s protected and many simply ignore the dangers altogether. Whereas 23% of internet users are concerned about their security when using the internet (statistics from UK’s Ofcom Communications Market Report), only 15% of 16-24 year olds are as concerned. Privacy has even more dire statistics for this age bracket; only 9% actively care about the threat to their privacy whilst online.

It seems that the new online campaign by AVG is needed, then, to ensure that university students and others of a similar age are given the tools needed to effectively protect themselves whilst using the internet; especially the social networking sites that they so often use. Other internet security software companies will no doubt be looking into similar ideas to try to keep the younger population protected from the potential dangers of the internet.

Guest Article by Neil Camp 

Major computer security company AVG has identified new social network application threats from what’s become known as Political Hacktivists.

And these Political Hacktivists are becoming a major threat to social networking websites like Facebook.

For those unsure of the term, Political Hacktivists are those that use non-violent use of legal, or indeed illegal digital tools to make a political statement. For example, the research team at AVG spotted that a number of Facebook accounts has apparently been targeted by Turkish hackers. Their actions appeared to be in revenge for the recent ship seizure as people tried to break the Gaza blockade, but were stopped by the Israeli military.

The Political Hacktivists use a number of techniques and tactics to make their point. These include virtual sabotage, website defacements, re-directs, information theft, virtual sit-ins, website parodies and denial-of-service attacks.

Roger Thompson, AVG Chief Research Officer. said:
“The number of hacked accounts is fairly small, so far lass than fifty, which would indicate that it is not an automated attack, but the number is still increasing, albeit slowly. This is the first time, as far as I am aware, that Facebook has been a victim of political hacktivism.

“Given that the attack seems to be being run by Turkish hackers, and that Turkish hackers had once claimed a world record for defacing 37k pages in a single day, we should not discount the thought that they might find an automated way to move, and we should be extra vigilant with what we click. Think before you link.”

AVG state that Facebook has had a number of such attacks from Political Hacktivists and warns people to take care when accessing social networking websites.

AVG recommends to avoid such Political Hacktivists attacks, computer users should always practice safe surfing, which includes using a link scanner which helps identify, in real time, rogue links and other web-based threats.

And as always, users should ensure that their anti-virus software application is fully up-to-date.

Guest Article by Neil Camp

Top computer security company AVG Technologies is warning people about rogue Facebook applications which are doing the rounds at the moment.

The rogue applications were said to be part of an aggressive and co-ordinated attack by hackers during the weekend of 15/16 May 2010.

In one period alone – from midnight to 9am on 15 Saturday – AVG spotted and dealt with 300,000.

Talking about the rogue Facebook applications Roger Thompson, AVG’s Chief Research Officer, said:
“This latest issue really underscores how powerful, while at the same time vulnerable, social networking applications are. This attack was actually stunning in terms of scale.

“Facebook is very responsive to threats when we identify them, and removing these applications as soon as they find them, but they’re still able to generate huge traffic, just because of the viral nature of social networks. It is staggering how many threats were propagated before they were stopped.

The rogue Facebook applications attack come wrapped in a time-honoured trap: a picture of a girl in a bikini which encourages the victim to innocently install an adware-supported viewer. The viewer is not viral in nature say AVG and it has been seen in various forms.

The rogue Facebook applications are coming in waves, with AVG saying that the peak before the weekend in question was about 80,000 and then had died to around a few hundred by Friday 14 May. However, that quickly climbed to 200,000 as the weekend started and the attack mounted in ferocity.

To put the rogue Facebook applications attack in context, the second largest attack registered at the same time, some anti-spy software, lodged 24,000 detections.

As Mr Thompson from AVG added about the rogue Facebook applications:
“Interestingly, they launched it on a Saturday. I guess they figure we don’t watch on the weekend, but malcode researchers are all cut from the same cloth as Inspector Gadget… we’re always on duty.”

When it comes to such rogue Facebook applications, AVG warned that people should employ a link scanner which alerts you if a page, or link, is bad. Furthermore, if you have to install a viewer to watch, then walk away. This is a sign that things might not be as they seem. Never download viewers via a link.

Guest Article by Neil Camp