No harm, no foul, lesson learned, you’re data is safe. That’s the message that Facebook gave its users with a recent blog post titled “Protecting People On Facebook”. Things ended well. Laptops of employees were attacked when they visited an app developer site with malicious code on it which triggered a zero-day java exploit. Forensic investigation showed that nothing crucial fell into the wrong hands and no user data was compromised. It was the best possible ending for a hacking, particularly of a company that is so entrusted with private user information. The social network requires real…

On December 12, 2012 the Federal Bureau of Investigations announced a cybercrime bust it had recently executed and credited Facebook’s security team as its primary collaborator.  The operation, which culminated in the arrest of 10 suspects, targeted an international assemblage of online offenders that the FBI labeled the ‘Butterfly Botnet.’  This cyber posse allegedly used a destructive breed of Malware, known as ‘Yahos,’ to corrupt 11 million computers and extract $850 million from unwitting victims, according to the FBI. A story like this evokes mixed reactions among…

In 2007, there was an emerging social media site that had a modest but growing userbase. It was designed to let users tell their friends and followers what they were doing at that moment regardless of how mundane or personal. The posts on it were comprised of over 90% unlinked statements or questions. It wasn’t very common for people to post links unless it was to an image that helped encapsulate the moment in which they were living. The mainstream explosion of Twitter in 2008 changed the site tremendously. People started flocking in. Celebrities started flocking in. Marketing zombies started…

Ever since Twitter started making a splash in mainstream and social media consciousness in 2008, it has been a major target of spammers. Its influence on clicks and search have made it USDA prime meat for those promoting nefarious agendas and Twitter has been challenged to sift through the real and fake tweets to try to sniff out the culprits. Now, they’re bringing in the law. They are attacking the source of many of the biggest spam attacks by going after tool providers who help spammers get their messages mass-distributed. The goal is to not only cut off many of the techniques that spammers use to…

As mobile technology continues to become more prevalent in use and present in our hands, so too do the “bad guys” make gains in skill and tools. As such the recent malware report (PDF) released last week by McAfee showed a 22% increase in malware over the same period last year. Android was hardest hit with malicious software disguised as legitimate apps. The attacks are getting more sophisticated as well, finding exploits through downloads of common apps with hard-to-detect holes that open up for more malware to be downloaded behind the scenes. Much of this can be blamed on Google’s “less rigorous…

Honestly, it should come as no surprise that Facebook isn’t exactly a snuggly blanket of impenetrable security when it comes to feeling safe on the internet. Perpetually beset with accusations of compromising users’ privacy, Facebook has spent much of its time in the last several months repairing its relationship with its users. But maybe privacy isn’t all we should be worried about. According to security firm BitDefender, approximately 20% of Facebook users’ news feeds are infected with malware. Delicious. BitDefender says it gathered the data via an app called Safego, installed by 14,000…