Identity Theft News

Facebook and Twitter hit by phishing attacks

Friday, May 22, 2009

Facebook and Twitter, two of the most popular social networking sites on the web, were both hit Thursday by separate phishing attacks designed to steal users' login information.

The Twitter attacks used the site's email notification system to encourage users to click on a link to a fake site that spoofs Twitter and asks the user to enter their login and password.

Cybercriminals set up fake Twitter accounts and began "following" legitimate Twitter users. When Twitter sends email notification to users that they have a new follower on the site, users who went to the scammer's profile would see a link to the spoof site, according to IDG News.

Once the attackers had stolen login credentials, they used hijacked accounts to post Twitter messages that appeared to come from the hacked users.

Another round of phishing attacks on Facebook was also spotted yesterday. Security researchers spotted spam messages with the subject line "Hello" that told users to go to a link with a ".at" domain in the body of the message.

Security experts say phishing attacks on social networking sites are up to 10 times more effective than those sent via email.
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