Researchers warn of Facebook malware

(vnunet.com, 08 Sep 2008) - A group of Greek security researchers has created a tool to turn Facebook into an attack platform.

The researchers are from the Institute of Computer Science at the Foundation for Research & Technology Hellas, along with a researcher from Singapore’s Institute for Infocomm Research.

In a paper entitled Antisocial Networks (PDF) the researchers demonstrated an application that causes Facebook users to unknowingly participate in denial-of-service (DoS) attacks against other sites.

The ‘Facebot’ tool was disguised as a National Geographic ‘picture of the day’ application which users install into their Facebook profile page, thus allowing it to access account information and request new photos.

When users access the application to view a new photo, they unwittingly become internet attackers.

READ MORE HERE [ Source: vnunet.com, Sept. 8, 2008 ]

Social media in the spaces in between

As most folks who have become fans of social media and microblogging will attest, used well, social media and interstitial packratting can save time.

A couple of weeks ago I was explaining social media to a client. I was talking about microblogs - like Twitter and Tumblr - and about how millions of folks were posting and commenting on videos using their webcams. The client, an older, busy executive responded with an arched eyebrow and a dismissive, "I really don't have time for that."

I don't think that's true. To understand why, consider the San Francisco-based photographer Thomas Hawk. Hawk (a pen name) is an investment advisor and the CEO of Zooomr, a photo site. He's also the father of two young girls. And, every day, every single day, he takes between 100 to 300 pictures and post-processes and uploads 30-50 of them to Zooomr and flickr. His goal is to publish a library of one million finished, processed pictures before he dies. So, here's a busy executive and family man who manages to find time to take sometimes hundreds of pictures daily. He's also an avid Twitterer. Hawk is doing what I call interstitial packratting.

READ MORE HERE

Does what happens in the Facebook stay in the Facebook?

A short film presentation about the truth of Facebook data mining. A Must See!

CLICK HERE to watch the Facebook film