Web & SpamTitan Blog

A new variant of the Dorkbot malware was discovered on Facebook this week,  the malware
was being used by cybercriminals to harvest users' passwords. According to  Tech Central the criminals exploited a flaw in the file-sharing site MediaFire to spread the malware. The malware is spread through a botnet that uses the Internet Relay Chat (IRC) protocol to spread.The malware sent links to the malicious app to the victim's Facebook friends via the Facebook chat service. Clicking on the link would download and run the malware.

This is not the first time this year for Facebook to suffer issues. Earlier this year Facebook suffered an "error" that had an astounding ripple effect, as users of popular websites were redirected to a Facebook error page. It became clear to people that Facebook Connect could disrupt every site it linked to -- even more troubling was the view it gave us of possible future hacker attacks.

With social media sites at virtually every employee's fingertips, libel via the internet is becoming prevalent. The unprecedented growth of social media has seen the number of defamation cases involving online content rapidly rise. Several high profile cases are ongoing including Lord McAlpines legal case for defamation against Twitter users who wrongly named him as a paedophile. Social media sites and users including companys using social networks need to smarten up their act as defamation cases are being taken and won.

In the last number of years, laptops, smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices have become prominent features in the workplace.  The Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) phenomenon is now one of the most pronounced incarnations of the wave of consumerisation surging through IT and the business environment.  Along with the reported gains in productivity, efficiency and collaboration, new security risks and information governance concerns have arisen as a result of this paradigm.  One of the major issues that reared its head is the sense of entitlement amongst many workers that using their own devices at work is now more important than the security of corporate data. 

Social networking addiction refers to someone spending too much time using Facebook, Twitter and other social networks - so much so that this activity interferes with other aspects of daily life. There is now official medical recognition of social networking addiction as a disorder. The behaviours associated with heavy  social media use have become the subject of much discussion and research. A study last year by the University of Chicago found social media can even be more addictive than cigarettes and alcohol. The research found using features like "retweets" and "likes" gives the user a burst of the addictive chemical  dopamine. So, there is a good and simple reason that you're addicted to social media!.  Your brain produces a dose of dopamine when you do and the positive response to this dosage means you want to repeat this cycle over and over.

Last week Facebook suffered an "error" that had an astounding ripple effect, as users of popular websites were redirected to a Facebook error page. It soon became clear to people that 'Facebook Connect' could disrupt every site it linked to - even more troubling was the view it gave us of possible future hacker attacks.

It has been another busy and dynamic year for cyber security.  During the run up to Christmas and the New Year, the last big opportunity for cybercriminals worldwide to spread their festive threats is here, we look back on some of the biggest web security events and implications from 2012 and look ahead to 2013 and the new wave of potential threats.

Yes, social media is risky but many small businesses are finding a way to make it work  and reaping the rewards. Social media risk and subsequent web and network security issues were some of the top concerns for businesses in 2012,according to a recent Forrester Survey. With threats like Malware, social account hijacking, data leakage, HR concerns, regulatory compliance among the most frequently cited challenges. 

Social media is here to stay.  Whether it’s Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, news or entertainment blogs, employees are using social media, and increasingly they’re doing it on the employer’s time.  While the infiltration of social media at work was always inevitable, use of social media on the company’s time can be both beneficial and detrimental to the image and reputation of the company.  Employers should be aware of the potential value they can derive from social media, as well as the potential risks and pitfalls. 

Boston, MA and Galway, Ireland –1^st November 2012 – SpamTitan Technologies today announced a major new release of its powerful web filtering solution for businesses, WebTitan 4.0.

Earlier this year SpamTitan announced the results of a survey on corporate social media  usage. The results show that 87% of companies would consider firing an employee if they posted something confidential about the company on a social media site, while not surprisingly, only 16% of companies think it is ok to use social media for personal use at work. These results highlight the need for businesses to implement HR and IT social media policies.