Hackers put social networks such as Twitter in crosshairs

According to a new study covering web application security vulnerabilities, hackers increasingly are favoring web sites such as Twitter as places to plant malicious software in order to infect computers, IDG News Service reports. Social-networking sites were the most commonly targeted vertical market, according to a study of hacking episodes in the first half of the year. The study is part of the latest Web Hacking Incidents Database (WHID) report. Social networks are "a target-rich environment if you count the number of users there," said Ryan Barnett, director of application security research for Breach Security, one of the report’s sponsors. Twitter has been attacked by several worms, and other social-networking platforms such as MySpace and Facebook also have been used to distribute malware. That’s often done when an infected computer begins posting links on social-networking sites to other web sites rigged with malicious software. Users click on the links because they trust their friends who posted the links, not knowing their friend has been hacked…

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