RSSNovel Uses of Facebook…Security and More
May 25
Spyware database, education, events, google, government, malware, microsoft, news, open-source, Phishing, privacy, research, security, Spam, Spyware, voip, vulnerabilities, windows, wireless No Comments
Remember when the iconic phrase for the internet was, “You’ve got mail!”? Today, it may as well be, “You’ve got friends!”
Last week I blogged about the anti-virus software available for the Mac, and the possibility that viruses and malware aren’t just for PCs anymore. Part of the problems for mac users, though, is that the risks on the Internet are often based on Internet or application vulnerabilities rather than OS-based vulnerabilities. Social engineering is going to be a risk, no matter what OS you use, and it may be on the rise because social networking is on the rise. Who do you trust? Your friends.
But on the net of course, it’s a lot harder to know who your friends are, and even if it’s really your friends on the other end of the line. Some of the Facebook stories lately show people using FB in new ways–some of them for good:
For example, the guy who bought targeted ads to try to land a Microsoft job after graduation
Or, law enforcement tracking down fugitives who left the country with a ton of cash, by looking at their FB status updates
Then there are more insidious and evil uses for facebook–
A generic phishing scam recently logged by PhishTank.org suggesting that Safari users are targeted
Scammers pretending to be your friends to get money from you.
Facebook is definitely on the rise, and the news media is representing it through all these stories of different uses and scams on the site.
