December 09, 2009
Cisco Security Report Points to Social Networking Security Risks
By Shamila Janakiraman, TMCnet Contributor
According to Cisco’s recently published Annual Security Report for 2009, social media grew immensely during 2009 - with Facebook’s active user base tripling to 350 million.
As a result, Cisco (News - Alert) warns that cybercriminals have taken over social networks because members trust other members of their communities and do not take proper precautions to prevent the spread of malware and computer viruses.
Cisco’s annual security report also offers information on minor vulnerabilities, poor user behavior and outdated security software – all of which can increase risks to the network.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. 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,” said Patrick Peterson of Cisco.
“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. 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,” said Patrick Peterson of Cisco.
The Annual Security Report also includes winners of the 2009 Cisco Cybercrime Showcase and discusses trends in cloud computing, spam and global cybercrime activities that affect information technology professionals.
In addition an overview of “Zeus,” a Trojan that delivers malware by targeting phishing and drive-by downloads, is offered. Zeus goes beyond login names and passwords to glean online banking credentials. Cybercriminals are using toolkits to create variants of Zeus which cannot be detected easily by antivirus programs and in 2009, Zeus botnet affected nearly 4 million computers globally.
“Koobface,” a worm that regenerated itself first appearing on Facebook in 2008 then Twitter in 2009 is also discussed. Koobface makes users click a link for a YouTube (News - Alert) video that actually launches the worm. Over 3 million computers have fallen prey to variants of this malware.
“The value of social media is becoming acknowledged increasingly by businesses, but these same organizations need to provide the proper training and education to ensure that employees avoid compromising themselves and their businesses,” Peterson said.
“Koobface,” a worm that regenerated itself first appearing on Facebook in 2008 then Twitter in 2009 is also discussed. Koobface makes users click a link for a YouTube (News - Alert) video that actually launches the worm. Over 3 million computers have fallen prey to variants of this malware.
“The value of social media is becoming acknowledged increasingly by businesses, but these same organizations need to provide the proper training and education to ensure that employees avoid compromising themselves and their businesses,” Peterson said.
Shamila Janakiraman is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of Shamila’s articles, please visit her columnist page.
Edited by Stefania Viscusi
