Cyber criminals are getting better every day in their ability to attack users and social networks provide them a ripe platform to infect a large number of people in a short time.
Social media networks are now becoming the prime target of hackers everywhere. As we all know social media has become very popular from the last few years and more people are using it every day so the cyber criminals are now targeting this platform to stalk people and manipulate them to click on insecure links, thus exposing them to malware. It could be concluded that social network malware has marked a new start.
The MySpace malware:
The first attack on social media network took place in the year 2005 when a MySpace user created a worm that enabled him to add many entries to his list.
However, a serious attack happened when a worm was created and it used a profile to spread and attacked everyone who visited the infected profile. The malware did two things: firstly it added a malicious film to the visitors’ profiles that helped it to spread, and secondly it modified the profile headers and made them to point a malicious website. It also made a copy version of the MySpace official site in order to steal the usernames and passwords.
The Facebook case:
Facebook became very popular in recent years. However, like any other social networking site, a user has to share much information on Facebook which became the target of the stalking hackers.
A worm called “Boface A” was announced that spread through MySpace and Facebook social networks. The worm inserted a link on the comment to manipulate the user to click and thus the user enters a fake version of YouTube site. When the user tried to watch the video, they were motivated to install a flash player version. On doing so, the user ended up allowing entrance to a copy of the worm in the system. This threat of social media was able to gain any information about the user which includes various types of sensitive data.
How to keep your social network safe to use:
To avoid such social network malware and its attacks all you have to do is just follow few tips:
Social media networks are now becoming the prime target of hackers everywhere. As we all know social media has become very popular from the last few years and more people are using it every day so the cyber criminals are now targeting this platform to stalk people and manipulate them to click on insecure links, thus exposing them to malware. It could be concluded that social network malware has marked a new start.
The MySpace malware:
The first attack on social media network took place in the year 2005 when a MySpace user created a worm that enabled him to add many entries to his list.
However, a serious attack happened when a worm was created and it used a profile to spread and attacked everyone who visited the infected profile. The malware did two things: firstly it added a malicious film to the visitors’ profiles that helped it to spread, and secondly it modified the profile headers and made them to point a malicious website. It also made a copy version of the MySpace official site in order to steal the usernames and passwords.
The Facebook case:
Facebook became very popular in recent years. However, like any other social networking site, a user has to share much information on Facebook which became the target of the stalking hackers.
A worm called “Boface A” was announced that spread through MySpace and Facebook social networks. The worm inserted a link on the comment to manipulate the user to click and thus the user enters a fake version of YouTube site. When the user tried to watch the video, they were motivated to install a flash player version. On doing so, the user ended up allowing entrance to a copy of the worm in the system. This threat of social media was able to gain any information about the user which includes various types of sensitive data.
How to keep your social network safe to use:
To avoid such social network malware and its attacks all you have to do is just follow few tips:
- Install antivirus software and keep it updated. This will help you stay away from the malicious code before it gets in your system.
- Always be aware and careful of what you are sharing on social networks. Never post sensitive information.
- You may also use a password manger to build strong passwords that are not easy to be hacked.