Twitter and Facebook Being Used By Scammers to Spread Infections

A recent article from TechCrunch mentions how Twitter is now being used by Scammers to lure potential victims to their scams.   Read the full article here:

http://techcrunch.com/2010/07/28/twitter-crime/

Most people already are familiar with Facebook and the infections that can be spread through it.  Just yesterday I worked on a customer's PC with the Koobface Worm. In addition to it the machine was heavily infected.  Scammers and Virus makers realize how much Facebook and Twitter are being used everyday by people.  Twitter and Facebook are excellent places to trick people into clicking on a bogus links and infecting machines.    The value in using these tools as that so many people are using them that the Scammers are bound to catch some people.  Facebook recently announced they had over 500 million users.   That is quite a tasty morsel to a Scammer or Virus maker.   Even if the success rate is only 1% out of 500 million, that is 5 million more machines to spread the infection to others.

Twitter has almost 100 million users now.  1% of that is still 1 million.  You can easily see why Facebook and Twitter are going to be used in this fashion by Scammers and Virus makers.  Many businesses and companies are on Facebook and Twitter for legitimate reasons.   They want to reach more customers, engage with the community and spread the word about their products or services.  The Scammers and Virus Creators are doing the same thing, trying to spread their infections and scam more people out of their hard earned money by reaching out to as many people as possible.  You can bet if a new Social Media Idea comes along, and grows in popularity like Facebook or Twitter has, that it too will become a target for Scammers and Virus Makers as well.

If you are one of the 500 million users of Facebook or one of the 100 million users of Twitter, you need to be extra careful with clicking on links you are not sure of.  If it looks suspicious don't click it.   With Twitter and it's short links you need to be sure of the source when following a link.  Check the user to see if they have any followers?  Do they Follow anybody?  How many Tweets do they have?  Again if it doesn't appear legit, don't click.

Twitter and Facebook are immensely popular and probably will be around for at least the next few years.    Scammers and Virus makers know this and will use it to their advantage.  As a user of these Social Media tools you just need to use your wits and be suspicious.  If you do get an infection, remove it as quickly as possible with your Security Software or have a professional do it for you.

Thanks for reading and comments are always welcome.

Steve

www.zolexpc.com

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