Twitter and Facebook are very appealing to hackers as they are very easy to reach millions of computer users very quickly. Internet scams and spam messages are sent from supposed “friends”, which instantly give a false element of trust. When browsing your favourite social network typical behaviour involves clicking shared links which if caught of guard could harm your computer. 

As well as social networks being used to spread links which direct you to sites with malicious code and fake antivirus software, your data can be harvested to be used for fraudulent activity. As these attacks are becoming increasingly common luckily a lot of social network users are becoming wise to suspicious activity. 

The reason for the growth in social networking internet security attacks is due to the continued improvement in spam email filters, coupled with the fact computer users are becoming more email security conscious. People realise when they have received a scam email as the same old tricks have been used by Internet criminals for years now. 

Social networking remains a relatively new phenomenon. Many young people use them who do not have internet security high up on their agenda. Sometimes scam messages will come from friends’ accounts which have been hacked so it can be difficult to spot harmful content.

According to the National Fraud Authority in the UK threats to internet security threats from malware and spyware via social networking has increased 90% since 2009, whilst spamming has doubled over the last couple of years.

To protect you and your computer whilst using social networks, be wary of any links to stories or videos that sound too unbelievable. Also be aware of people who want to connect with you who you don’t know.

Guest Article by Louise Goldstein

The Twitter engineers have had to work hard to plug gaps in their code which means that a flaw could be exploited by what the antivirus software industry call cyber criminals to embed pop-up messages which create links to porn sites.

At first users of Twitter only had to let their mouse mover over the message which had the embedded link and a new website (often porn related), would open in the browser. Quite a shock if you were wanting to read a Tweet from your favourite celebrity and all you got was a website dedicated to other matters. What worried the engineers most of all was that you didn’t even have to click on the link – just moving the mouse across the message was good enough to activate the url.

A worm, in antivirus software jargon, is a self-replicating piece of code which can cause havoc in a computer’s innards.

Security chief at Twitter Bob Lord wrote in a blog:
“This issue is now resolved. We apologise to those who may have encountered it. Users may still see strange retweets in their timelines caused by the exploit. However, we are not aware of any issues related to it that would cause harm to computers or their accounts. User account information was not compromised.”

It’s not the first time Twitter has been targeted and it certainly won’t be the last. A number of major Twitters were caught out by the problem, including, says the BBC, the wife of the former Prime Minister, Sarah Brown.

The embarrassing problem popped up for Twitter just after a major redesign job on its site. Interestingly, those people who used a third party website to read, or send Tweets, didn’t have the problem.

Experts say the problems lies in a cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability. This is a flaw which can be easily exploited by malicious code. In this incident, a command was written in the popular JavaScript which automatically directed people towards other websites, many of which were pornographic.

For anyone who understands coding and how it can be manipulated for nefarious reasons, a worm can be quickly written and then exploited on such websites as Twitter, much to the annoyance of antivirus software companies.

It’s reckoned that about 200,000 messages were compromised and observers believe that Twitter, which has been attacked on a large number of occasions, has to do more to protect its users.

Guest Article by Neil Camp 

Computer viruses can be contracted in a variety of ways. Sometimes you will visit a website which has malicious code on it which will then install itself on your computer. The virus code can attach itself to a program on your computer. Some computer viruses can be very dangerous as they can reproduce themselves and infect other computers on your network or even PCs you communicate with through email and instant messenger. 

How do I protect my computer against viruses? 

There are new computer viruses being created all the time which is why it is important to make sure you have the best virus protection. There are many different kinds of PC protection software so you will need to do some research to find out which software is the most appropriate for your computer usage. 

Antivirus reviews are a great way to find out which antivirus software is the best and how they work. Good anti virus review sites will have antivirus software reviews and will also provide information about the latest computer security issues. At Antivirus-BUYability we bring you the latest virus news so you can be aware of all the latest computer vulnerabilities and how to stay safe online. 

Computer Viruses 

Hackers and cyber criminals will often exploit the latest fads and technology in order to spread computer viruses very quickly. For this reason social sites like Facebook and Twitter can be a risk to your computer because they are often a target for people who wish to spread computer viruses. By using computer virus protection you can use these sites with no worries of security issues. 

Another popular way in which computer viruses spread is through email. Because email viruses can spread so quickly it is important when you are reading your antivirus reviews you ensure the antivirus software you buy gives you adequate email protection. Email viruses can inject onto your computer even without opening the infected attachment, by viewing the email in your preview pane can cause infection.

Computer virus protection is a must in a world that is increasingly digital, be vigilant when opening and downloading files. If you are unsure of the source of the file then delete it from your PC. IF you keep up to date with potential computer viruses by reading antivirus reviews sites and buy antivirus software you will have done your best to protect your computer against viruses.

Guest Article by Louise Goldstein

Some Tweeters fell victim to the scam which invited them to a Best Video buy link, which actually took them to a site offering a rogue security application.

The brief messages, which contained a hyperlink (juste.ru), bombarded certain Tweeters and once clicked, the link took them through to a Russian domain. The site appeared to show YouTube content, but was actually delivering an infected PDF via an IFRAME. The PDF was riddled with exploits that targeted Adobe Reader versions that remain un-patched.

Once infiltrated, the computer users then saw a screen which said that their systems were infected and that it needed to be cleaned using a particular security software package which, of course, would then download malware onto the machine.

A recent report said that such attack had increased over 200% in the second half of 2008 and once attacked, the desktop would find it difficult to recover without specialist help.

And although such attacks are common on many applications, downloads and websites, this is believed to be the first concerted scareware attack via Twitter. Ironically, the offending app is known as ‘System Security.’

Computer security experts believe that people who Twitter are particularly vulnerable to such attacks, as the high volume of messages and the intimacy of the service leads to a certain susceptibility, as though users cannot believe hackers would have the wherewithal to attack such a social system.

But with the Twitter ranked in popularity only behind Facebook and MySpace with an estimated six million unique monthly visits, the problem is set to get worse over time.

Twitter confirmed that it had been attacked, but that all the offending messages had been removed.

Guest Article by Neil Camp