Cisco’s 2009 Security Report: Social Media Users, Be Careful!

Check out the Cisco’s 2009 Annual Security Report!

One of the most interesting observations — which should not be surprising to information security professionals — is that online criminals are successfully exploiting social media and social networks, using people’s willingness to respond to messages that appear to be from others whom they know and trust.

Anyone who has clicked on a Twitter direct message URL that turned out to be tweetspam, that’s at least part of what they mean. When someone who doesn’t usually send you a direct message unexpectedly sends you a vague but inviting message, like, “Check out this funny video!” DON’T CLICK ON IT. Do a search for tweetspam, instead, and see how many thousands of the exact same message have been sent all over the twitterverse.

And once you know it to be tweetspam, tweet a warning to your followers. (Without the spam URL — instead tell them “Don’t click on any DMs that say ‘check out this funny video!’ They’re spam and malware!”

Of course there’s a lot more to the Cisco Security Report. Take a look!