Security and Social Networking

The upsurge in social networking has brought about many more security risks. People generally think about just connecting and chatting with friends or trying to find old friends they have lost touch with over the years.  What they do not think about are the people out there who can make those sites very unsafe.  There are people who can imbed cookie grabbers on their pages, hackers who can get into their information, and malware that can be posted through the pages. 

           

Recently one of the newer social networks Twitter was hacked and caused a lot of commotion for people on there.  I was around to witness the Twitter hack fiasco and it was a crazy time to have a Twitter account.  People would get random messages, spam messages, and even malicious messages. The fact that these sites can be hacked can be potentially hazardous for a lot of people especially if they are careless with their personal information.

 

            People need to be cautious of all the sites they visit on the internet and this is no different when they visit personal networking sites like MySpace, Facebook, or any of the many other places out there for social networking.  There is a potential for sites like this and for things like personal messengers like MSN, AIM, and Yahoo messenger to all transfer viruses to your other contacts even without your knowledge.  People must protect themselves and not visit sites that could be potentially harmful. With all of these risks, how do you think we can protect our business and get the great benefits of Social Networking?....

Full Text  -- Yahia A.

Comments

[Joya Fountain]

As long as there are social networking site there will always be some type of security issues. I believe hackers target domain address rather then social networking site per say. By hacking a social networking site you are more likely to can personal information very quickly. Also many user on the social site is unaware of the risk.

[Farooq Ahmed Mohammed]

Social Networking is a best way to get in touch with your mates who left you long back either in school or in college. The greatest thing is that when you see him on the network you would atleast to know what he is upto now.

But every good thing cannot have good taste, the best out of it should be highlighted rather than go in to errors which can be minimized if the appropriate applications are setup.

[Michael Howard]

Social Networking is all the rage today, and a powerful tool to keep in touch with friends and family. However, it is also a scary place to be posting anything and everything about one’s self. This is especially true for our younger generations. Bad people prey on these sites, and exploit them often in negative ways. Be careful when posting personal information…

[Supapong Ngernpisutsilp]

Based on social networking sites such as Facebook, YouTube, Craigslist and Wikipedia, as well as Web services such as eBay and Gmail, enable self-publishing and high interaction between users through blogs, RSS feeds, podcasts and other technologies. These sites attract huge numbers of visitors, making them extremely attractive to hackers. Moreover, the same technologies that invite user participation also make them easier to corrupt with malware such as worms that can shut down corporate networks, or spyware and keystroke loggers that can steal company data. Furthermore, with the ability to post photos, video and audio recordings to sites, employees can inadvertently leak confidential company information. Thus, most companies blog their employees from using those sites. However, in my opinion, I think there are a lot of benefits to using social networking sites, and the downsides should not put people off using them but the companies should try to manage risk rather than avoid risk.

[Sean T]

Perhaps because I have a systems/network background, but I am not at all a fan of "mixing business with pleasure". You can justify the use of these social networking tools as "judicious", but people are people and the MAJORITY will not use the tools for solely business use, which means you gain little or no ROI. I also feel the same way about IM in the workplace. I don't think the payoff is there. Maybe, and I mean maybe, certain industries could leverage better than others - sales/marketing etc. But you have to indeed have good policies and training. I still don't by it, but I am objective to what may work better for a small number of organizations.

Security concerns just seal the deal. There is enough to deal with already on the most securest of networks, let alone introducing these online tools into the work realm. If this is the case, let's not have firewalls or spam filters either.

[Alcides Rodrigues]

I do not belong to any social network. However, I would assume that all of the risks one encounters when using the Internet are also found in social networks. Anytime you connect your PC to an external source, you are exposing your PC to potential harm. Since Internet usage has become an intricate part of our every day life, its users should first learn how to protect their PCs and what to do if their PCs are exposed to a threat. Finally, life is about taking risks; we just have to learn how to deal with them.

[Mustapha Oluwa]

I think most of the time we are always concerned about the negative side of social networking, which I quite understand the reasons as mentioned in earlier comments. I am not a big fans of face book or any online collaboration because I believe it takes much time once you join a social networking, the next thing you realize is most of your time is spent on the website. That was the main reason I don’t like social networking but on Saturday my thinking started changing after signing up for Skype. A family friend of mine went to Spain on vacation and we couldn’t talk but finally she called me on Saturday. She told me to download Skype, which I told her I have one and we were able talk for a long time.
The point am trying to make here is that it is through there are some negative things going on out there but I believe everyone should be able to make a good decision and know what type of friendship they are accepting and information they are exchanging on the internet. We can also educate our friends of the good aspect of social networking not just the negative side.

[Alla Trakhtengarts]

I think people really need to be careful when it comes to providing their information online through sites like facebook and twitter. Although Facebook is a great tool to network and exchange information with others, there is also a potential to have a lot of your information disclosed to others that you may not want to be disclosed. There are a lot of hackers and other people that steal personal information and revealing too much information such as birthday and any other personal details can be dangerous. People need to be aware that although they think it is just for their friends to see, there are other people that can get a hold of their personal information that they might not want to share. Although Facebook stresses the importance of privacy, they also state that any information or pictures that you post on their site becomes part of their property. So, people need to be very careful of the information that they share.

[Raj Luxmi]

I agree with Rasesh that there will always be people out there who would try to steal people’s identity and it really depends on end users to take necessary steps. Nowadays, a virus can be spread by sending instant message also. This could come from a known friend also. (Although, the friend might have not sent it). In such scenarios, one should confirm with the friend weather he was the actual sender of it or not.
I remember once my roommate received an email from CHASE that they need to update her social security information for bank purposes and she filled it out. Later on, it was found that Chase would never ask users to provide them with such confidential information. Hence, it was a spam! Even today if I try to access my chase account online, before viewing the account information page, I get a message for updating my social security information. So, I think it ultimately comes up to users only that they should update their system regularly, check if their firewall is running properly, install anti-virus programs and stay away from clicking malicious sites or provide classified information. I think companies should not allow the use of any social networking sites at work. This could cost a company huge amount of money to updates the server if they have a virus attack. At work social networking can be done by just moving around the office or via phone (if required). For personal use, on facebook, myspace and orkut, people should only add friends they really know and not add random people just to increase their number of friends or meet new people. Who knows one click could cost them both time and money.

[georgina Brandon]

My thought on security and social networking most people that are on Face book do not know that the viruses are inherent throughout the internet. People think that by them visiting face book or my space that they will not get a virus. I also think that my space and face book should running a virus check when people upload things to the site. Also people should be aware of the risks of visiting these sites.

[Naraphong Apirutvarakul]

It's interesting that most of my friends are aware of the danger of virus/malware/spyware. They really want to protect their private information and reduce the risk by installing anti-virus/spyware, keeping it up to date, aware of not clicking link or opening e-mail from untrusted source; however, when they open social networking sites, they click all link that available on friend's pages without any notice or self-awareness. Many people trust some sites too much; they believe it is the safe sites, but in fact, most of websites contain potential threat.

[Charles Ansell]

I found that a number one safety problem for social networking users is being misdirected to phishing sites. I'm always getting requests to join bogus linked-ins and facebooks from idiots who signed up and then had their address books lifted. I don't think there's much a workplace can do but set-up firewalls, etc.

Whitelisting webpages and applications would, I suppose, be effective, but I think this tactic too often tramples workers rights and should only be implemented in places where information security is essential (e.g., bank, hospital), or against sites that are proven, repeated malware culprits. I know these are ridiculously nebulous statement, as nearly all sites can corrupt users and nearly every company has valuable information that needs to remain confidential, uncorrupted and available, but in a hospital, for example, some (computer-based) virus that causes a prescription chart to get out of whack can be a life-or-death issue for some patient. That's more important than if a virus halted TY beany baby production. Unless you are awaiting a transplant from a beany baby. Anyway, in these example high-sensitivity situations I'd restrict social networking sites at the workplace. I'll leave the job of defining high sensitivity relative to other industries to some PhDer, but that's really what needs to be done. And at home, you're on your own. I agree with Michael, it's on you to know your tools.

[Michael Lafferty]

I've been getting warned about the dangers of social activities on the internet since I was 10. Not only being warned about social engineering but viruses and malware as well. As someone who has never been killed because I gave out too much information and someone who has never gotten I virus, it is all about being smart on the internet. You need to learn how to drive to drive a car, but any idiot can buy a computer and advertise their identity to be stolen. I work in computer sales/repair, you wouldn't believe the stories I hear on a daily basis. People don't care about protection, and they don't care about knowing how to operate safely online.

[Cathy Corrigan]

As these sites have become increasingly popular, I am hearing that more and more people are being asked to friend others that they barely know or maybe dont even know at all on a personal level like acquaintances or friends of friends. I remember one request I got from a person that was with an organization I once considered joining but who I did not know at all. People have to be smarter and more selective about who they add to their networks. I think that the fad aspect of social networking will die down a bit, and until then people should be more careful about who they connect with. Fewer connections equals a lower security risk for viruses, etc that spread through these networks. And unless you have a professional need to have lots of connections - ie you are a recruiter - I dont really see the need to link up with people you know tangentially.

[Rasesh]

I am not sure what can be really done that will completely stop viruses from spreading through such popular social networking sites. There will be always people out there who will try to steal other peoples identity or spread viruses. As someone else just made comment that some people are naïve enough to click on any link or email that is sent their way without even questioning validity of it. There is only so much these companies can do. Responsibility falls on users to be more proactive to ensure they take all measures necessary on their end such as: installing security programs, ensuring their virus definitions are up to date, ensuring their firewall is setup, etc… Only way to stop this is by educating end users.

[Susan Nguyen]

Most people are savvy enough not to click on links and open videos in emails but most people do not think twice about watching a video and clicking a link that their friend put up. As long as online social networking is on the rise, hacking to those mediums will also rise. Exploiting online social networking mediums is not new. My high school classemate used to hack in AIM when these networks were in its infancy. People should be aware of the current dangers on the internet and everyone should have the most updated virus scans, firewalls, and security patches to protect them from as much as possible. Most of all, they must stay current on exploit that might hurt them unknowingly.

[Chetawat Jay Vekavakayanondha]

Since the introduction of social networking, people are engaged with a new level of technological networking. Most of them are addicted to these social network sites and become habitual in their everyday life. Undoubtedly, these people face with security risk and less privacy since anyone can view their contact, perhaps altering their personal information. I think the best way to protect, if you are very sensitive with this kind of issues, is to stay out of it but if you need to have one, I'll say that you should set a firewall or install security program e.g. McAfee in order to have at least a security check within your computer system.

[Oli Shields]

One of my friends received a virus through a facebook video seemingly from a friend, which came as a surprise. However, I'm also thinking that while it's a new medium that can present surprises, the risks are the same as in other areas of information security. Hence it seems that as long as we have good information security in the sense of risk management / assessment /control with defense in depth (firewalls, anti-virus, intrusion detection etc.), businesses and people should be able to harvest the benefits of social networking. i just took IS 433 which was an interesting insight into information security for me.

[Zackary Webb]

The security risks of social networking are the same risks inherent throughout the internet. Spam email, viruses, adware, malware have been around nearly since the beginning of the web. As users became more aware of the risks and took steps to better protect themselves while browsing the web, so must social network users be aware of the risks there and take the proper precautions.

Facebook in particular has a fairly robust set of security precautions users can take: http://www.allfacebook.com/2009/02/facebook-privacy/