Jacobs+D.+Blog+post+analysis

Jacobs d

To: Proximity social networking team From: Jacobs, D. Subject: Blog post analysis on Attacks on Social Networking Sites Date: January 31, 2010

We have been asked to analyze a social networking blog post in order to prepare for Proximity's spring focus group sessions. I have included a post from FT.com outlining some risks of Hackers and spammers targeting users of social networking sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, in order to gain access to the personal information of users. I suggest we ask TU students ' opinions as to how we may be able to help people prevent this from happening to them.

There are many serious signs of social networking sites not being safe for their users, even the most well protected users. Google, its employees, and even some of their network of friends were the target of a sophisticated hacking attempt. According to a study by Sophos, since 2008 there has been a 71% increase in spam and a 70% increase in malicious software code. Several high profile people were also targeted by hackers, including the twitter accounts of Brittany spears and president Barack Obama. Security experts also estimate that attacks through social networking sites, such as twitter, facebook, and myspace were 10 times more effective than attacks conducted through e-mail. The reason for the increase in successful attacks is because users are more likely to open a message on a networking site, assuming it is from a friend, than to open one on a e-mail account.
 * What are the risks to users**

There are two important reasons for users to protect their personal pages.
 * The importance of protecting personal pages**


 * **Identity theft**: hackers can find personal information that may lead to passwords and other personal information.
 * **Computer viruses:** some programs have been developed that can create a profile automatically with pictures and details about a fictitious person and attempt to "friend" users for the purpose of sending spam and malicious messages.

I have included some questions I believe we should ask TU students in order to help protect them from hackers.
 * Questions for the spring focus group**


 * Do security risks make you stop using social networking sites?
 * How often do you use sites such as Facebook and Twitter?
 * Do you know how to identify at risk messages?
 * Are you more likely to open a suspicious message if it is sent though Facebook, as opposed to e-mail?
 * Do you know who all of your friends are personally? or do you have unknown people who could see your home page? if so about how many?
 * Do you know what information you should and should not include as public information?
 * Do you know what computer viruses are and what they can do?
 * Did you know you can have a virus on your computer without it showing any signs?
 * Do you know what it means to have your identity stolen?
 * Do you believe that social networking sites could do more to protect their users?
 * What do you think could be done differently to protect users?

__Reference__:

Palmer, M. (2010 January 31) Attacks on Social Networking Sites Up 70%. Financial times. Retrieved January 31, 2010, from [].html.