Social networking could be the vector for next malware wave

Security solutions firm F-Secure Malaysia has warned of the need for greater vigilance when it comes to the use of social networking. F-Secure Malaysia senior security response manager, Chia Wing Fei, noted the increasing popularity of social networking versus more traditional mediums such as e-mail. Chia argued that while users have learned to be skeptical about links forwarded from anonymous senders in e-mails, they tend to be far more trusting of their community of acquaintances at sites such as Facebook.

Unfortunately, this creates an excellent incentive for hackers to break into poorly protected social networking accounts in order to propagate links to malware, or to promote rogue products. In a nutshell, the higher innate level of trust for social networking sites means that users are more likely to react to messages or spam via this channel.

Chia left off with this warning: "Links sent from hacked accounts and requests for financial help from so-called friends are bound to increase as social networking sites become ever more popular."

For more on this story:
- check out this PC World article 

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