Commtouch shares research of 2011 Facebook attacks
Commtouch has published an in-depth research of 2011 Facebook attacks within its Internet Threats Trend Report, a year-end synopsis of Internet threats. The report and infographic is said to present an absolute analysis of scores of malicious Facebook activities during the past year, as identified by Commtouch Labs.
According to the report, Affiliate marketing sites are claimed to be the final destination in three-fourths of all Facebook deceptions. Visitors to these sites are induced to fill out surveys that generate affiliate payments for the scammers, victimizing legitimate businesses that pay affiliate fees. Users are said to be drafted to click on the scams through social engineering tactics such as free merchandise offers, celebrity news, new (fake) Facebook applications, or simply a trusted friend sending a message stating: "You have to see this!" After users first click on the scams, malware or malicious scripts are believed to be too blamed for the further spread of slightly over half the analyzed scams, with those falling into three main categories: likejacking, rogue applications, and malware or "self-XSS," each of which is described in the report. In 48% of the cases, unwitting users themselves are responsible for distributing the undesirable content by clicking on "like" or "share" buttons.
The report also discusses Web threats, phishing, malware, and spam throughout the year besides Facebook threats. The content of the report is based on data from Commtouch's GlobalView Network. The trend report is said to be describe the explosion of email-borne malware in the third quarter of 2011 to the highest levels observed in over two years, followed by its subsequent drop to earlier low levels during the fourth quarter.
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