Social Networking

The Below news story is interesting for a few reasons.  Firstly, it provides a good overview of social networking security issues. While nothing in the article is earth-shattering for those who follow this Web 2.0 crime, it is a useful update on the current state of affairs.  Secondly, and of note is the fact that the well-known the “Koobface” Facebook worm is estimated to have infected over a half  a million computers to-date. The article also points out the significant threats to corporate computer systems via social networking services (SNS).  As more and more employees continue to update their Facebook status, tweet and access MySpace from office computers, no doubt corporate networks will increasingly come under attack.  In fact, given that the intellectual property on corporate networks is likely of greater value than the data on a user’s home computer, social networking malware will continue to provide an exploitable vector [...]

As the report below indicates, more and more law enforcement agencies are taking advantage of social media as a means of crime fighting. Interestingly, communities too are also using web 2.0 technologies for neighborhood watch programs and for reporting unusual activities in the community.  Recently in Colorado (USA), a twitter-update by a concerned parent brought out dozens of community members to investigate a stranger taking pictures of children in the local park. In another case, a citizen posted information on some strange door-to-door “salesmen” who had just visited her house.  She said they acted aggressively and asked her neighbors via an email listserve whether they had had a similar experience.  The email was monitored by a police officer in his patrol car, who also subscribed to the mailing list.  He knew from previous reports that the description of the modus operandi provided by the woman matched that of a well-known [...]

Social media and Web 2.0 firms have been adding services rapidly, bringing a social networking dimension to many of our daily interactions.  Today, it is readily possible to share photos, music, video or even website bookmarks while connecting with friends and family around the world as never before.  While these services may create value and convenience for end-users, they certainly are not without their challenges as well.  As noted previously here on Future Crimes, users are turning over vast amounts of personal information to the “cloud” and doing so without having a clear understanding of where this information is stored or how it may be protected. There are many threats to online data entrusted to social networking firms, but three in particular have been widely noted.  The first is a lack of clarity in company privacy policies.  These policies change often, and the changes usually do not inure to the [...]

Popular Social Networking Sites The explosion in the use of social networking sites such as Facebook, Myspace, Orkut, Bebo, Habbo, Friendster and QQ has taken the internet by storm.  Hundreds of millions of subscribers (literally hundreds of millions) are signing up for these services and proving vast amounts of personal information about their lives, friends, families, photos.  They tweet and update about all that is important to them.  Limited privacy controls in many social networks, combined with the tendency of many to overshare, has created incredibly detailed profiles of each social network user and their network of contacts. While most of these service providers are fine, upstanding companies, some may not be.  How long will it be before a transnational criminal organization surreptitiously launches its own social networking site for the purposes of furthering their illegal enterprise?  Each day new criminal cases emerge wherein the contents of social networks are [...]

While hacking is by no means a new phenomenon, the volume of data criminals are able to obtain as a result of such attacks is increasing exponentially.  For those who live their lives online and provide a constant stream of personal data to the social networking companies such as Facebook, Myspace and Twitter, they are placing their trust in these firms to protect their personal information.  Even though nearly all social media companies have implemented to one extent or another privacy policies and settings for their users, such steps only protect against voluntary disclosure of information.  That is to say, establishing privacy settings to only allow friends and family in your network to see your activities is a useful to to prevent the social networking site itself from disclosing your data to uninvited parties. While much has been written and said about the limited nature of privacy protection in Web [...]