Privacy, Security & Virus Information

How to Keep the Hackers off your Twitter

Computers hackers have identified the biggest weak link in virus history and are working around the clock to exploit it the full. Forces on the dark side, mostly hailing from the Far East, are attacking Twitter, the micro-blogging community's latest and most favourite sensation in the hope that at least some of its millions of users still haven't woken up to the necessity of installing proper virus protection.

The chink in the armour this time appears to the direct messaging facility on Twitter, known to all as DMs. The hackers send camouflaged messages in the hope of accessing the user's Twitter ID and password. Once someone who is unaware of the risk takes up the bait and clicks on the link contained in the message.

As soon as they hit do so, the hackers are in, and begin to wreak their havoc at breakneck speed before the unsuspecting Twitter can blink. The same message is rapidly issued to every person on the "friends" list, and from there on in all the way around the world and back through the internet. This is only phase one of the virus blitz, with stage two being a simultaneous attack on any login and password information contained on the login information to gain remote access to any personal details contained in the computer's hard disc.

These days it appears that the inherent security problems that appear to fundamental to Twitter and to a lesser extent with Facebook, will mean that they will be under constant attack, and with very little to prevent these attacks from happening. The only way to drive off the invaders is get wise to their moves, and touch nothing that looks anyway suspicious even if you run the risk of losing a potential "friend".

The other means of making sure that Twitter users can enjoy the benefits of being a member of such a wide scale social networking site is to have the best virus protection program that money can buy installed. As a very large percentage Twitter users are in their teens, in might even be their parents' responsibility to protect the computer they are twittering on, especially if it is part of a home network.

Twitter users should always have one on their virus scanning software is telling them, and steer very clear of any messages that send out any form of security warning. The inconvenience and possible financial damage that can be caused by letting a virus slip through isn't worth taking even the most remote of risks.

 

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