12/09/09
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Report: Social networks a growing target for hackers and malware
A yearly security report released by technology company Cisco says online social media and networks are among the fastest growing targets for cyber criminals. Strategies used to hack into social-networking sites include grabbing passwords and then utilizing the fact that people only have one password for all their accounts. Also, the report said that cyber criminals also establish fake profiles to trick others into opening files that contain viruses – as people tend to be overly trusting of those in the network. “The blending of social media for business and pleasure increases the potential for network security troubles, and people, not technology, can often be the source,” said Cisco employee Patrick Peterson. “Without proper cognizance of security threats, our natural inclination to trust our 'friends' can result in exposing ourselves, home computers and corporate networks to malware.” While attacking social media and networking websites is gaining traction for cyber criminals, Cisco said that the old standbys are still popular. Spam is also a highly useful method for convincing people into downloading malware. Cisco's report estimates that globally spam will increase 30 to 40 percent in 2010.