Social Media – The next scam frontier

I remember way back in the day when I got my first computer.  It was a Compaq Presario 433.  It was a great computer, loaded with Windows 3.1, Tabworks and a bunch of other great software.  I remember connecting to the Calgary Freenet at 2400 bps and I was off to the races.

Viruses were small files that were attached to files on a floppy disk that spread by people passing infected disks back and forth.  Not really a big threat to the average computer user, we just had to be cautious about scanning any type of floppy disk that came our way.

Wow, lots has changed since those days…

I received an email today from my colleagues at CRN Canada about a brand new type of cyber threat to hit the social networking circles.  Yes, now the popular pastime for many is now being targeted.  CRN informed me this morning about a Facebook password scam making its way around the Internet.

Social Networking Services are an obvious and very attractive avenue for password scams, phishing sites and other malicious activities which our out there just like the old virus on the floppy was, to disrupt life for the unsuspecting computer user out there.  However, these malicious and “pain in the butt” activities are now out there to steal our personal and perhaps corporate information.

Important reminder about password requests via the Internet

If or when you get an email from Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or any other social media service or website in general asking you about your password…Don’t follow the instructions. Legit companies of any shape or size would never send you an email asking you information about your password or requesting you follow some sort of instructions about changing your password.

These types of scams are nothing new and they have been around for a while.  So all you security freaks out there, don’t go running around saying social networking is bad (the same thing happened to a number of industries out there).

I am sure the banking industry is thankful for social media because the pressure and the focus may be off them for a while.

Read more about the Facebook Password Reset Scam.


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Stuart Crawford
Ulistic Inc.
(416) 840-9106

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