In light of the recent phishing attacks on Twitter and Facebook, these helpful security tips arrived from Erin Lockhart, of ScanSafe, the leading provider of SaaS (Security as a Service) protection software.
According to ZD Net.co.uk, Twitter was hit by hackers and jijacked 33 accounts. Several high-profile celebrities including Britney Spears, CNN's Rick Sanchez, Bill O'Reilly, and even President-elect Barack Obama were affected.
Here’s how it works: “Someone sends a link which leads to a Web page asking for the user’s login credentials. It’s a completely avoidable breach of security – never, ever enter your login credentials from a website accessed via a link received in email, IM, or twitter. While it must be embarrassing for the celebrities who were impacted, it should concern all citizens when the future president of the United States is among the victims,” comments Mary Landesman.
Phishing isn’t the only security vulnerability on social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook and Myspace. ScanSafe recommends the following the five tips to protect yourself on social networking sites.
1) Stop the virtual popularity contest. There’s a real trend among members of social networking sites to friend as many folks as possible, even if they don’t actually know them. The same goes for “following” and responding to unknown “tweets” on Twitter. Promiscuous “friend-ing” provides ripe opportunities for would-be attackers to spread worms and other viruses.
2) Don’t go click happy. Regardless of whether you know the sender, never click on links received unexpectedly.
3) Be careful what you click for. If you do click a link that then requests you install something, don’t install it. If you have a reason to believe a legitimate update is required, visit that vendor’s website directly and update from there.
4) Be cautious with your login information. If you follow a link that then instructs you to provide your login credentials, don’t. Never login to a site accessed via a link received in email, instant messaging, or a social networking site. If you believe the login request is legitimate, visit the site as you normally would and login via the normal interface.
5) Always sign out and log off. Users should log off of sites they are not actively using. It does require a bit more discipline, since they will need to remember to sign out and will have to sign back in each time they wish to use the site. However, by taking this extra step, they will not only be enhancing their own security, but the security of their legitimate friends as well.
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Comments
Great list! You may want to add one thing: Only click on TinyURLs if you REALLY know the person VERY well. It caused tons of phishing problems. We actually created a service just as a little pet project XeeURL . com. Users have to register to use it so somebody knows that there is a respective identity behind - at least a small improvement.
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