Tag Archive for WatchGuard

RB | February 28, 2011
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Riskiest Social Media Applications

watchguard malwareDarkReading has a report from Seattle-based network security vendor WatchGuard which says that the fastest growing threat to corporate networks is web-based social media applications. The WatchGuard security researchers claim that social media applications can seriously compromise network security, expose sensitive data, and create productivity drains on employees.

There are many reasons why social media applications can pose risk to any size business. WatchGuard noted that productivity and data loss are major risks for organizations of all size. Social media sites also serve as malware and attack vectors. Social networks will become the leading malware vector over the next few years for three reasons:

1. Social media sites breed a culture of trust. The whole point of social media is to interact with others. Typically interactions are with people considered to be “friends”, which implies trust. Meanwhile, social media sites do not have any technical means to confirm that the people you are interacting with really are who they say they are. This environment of trust creates an ideal scenario for social engineers to use.

2. Many social media sites suffer from technical vulnerabilities. While Web 2.0 technologies offer many benefits, they also harbor many security vulnerabilities. The complexity of Web 2.0 applications can lead to imperfect code, which introduces some social network sites to Web application vulnerabilities, such as SQL injection and cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks. Furthermore, the concept of allowing untrusted users to push content on to social media sites conflicts with traditional security paradigms. Simply put, this means social media sites are more likely to suffer from web vulnerabilities than less complex and less interactive web sites.

3. Hugely popular. According to online analytics firm, Compete, Facebook is now the 2nd most popular Web destination after Google. Many other social networks, such as Twitter and YouTube, follow closely behind. The popularity of social networks attracts attackers because they know it means that they can get “return on investment” for their attacks.

For these reasons, WatchGuard researchers deemed the following applications the most risky:

facebook logo1. Facebook is the most dangerous social media site, largely based upon its popularity according to WatchGuard. With a 500+ million user following, Facebook offers a fertile attack surface for hackers. Add in the potential technical concerns, such as a questionable, open App API and now you have a recipe for disaster.

twitter logo2. Twitter, many incorrectly assume that very little damage could be done in 140 characters. Twitter’s short form posts lead to new vulnerabilities such as URL shorteners. While URL shorteners can help hackers hide malicious links. Twitter also suffers from Web 2.0 and API related vulnerabilities that allow various attacks and Twitter worms to propagate among its users.

youtube logo3. YouTube attracts attackers because it is one of the most popular online video sites. Hackers often create malicious web pages that masquerade as YouTube video pages. Additionally, attackers like to spam the comment section of YouTube videos with malicious links.

linkedin logo4. LinkedIn bears more burden than other social media sites; it is business oriented. Thus, it makes a more attractive target to attackers, as LinkedIn is highly trusted. Because most users leverage LinkedIn to form business relationships or find jobs, they tend to post more valuable and potentially sensitive information to this social network.

4chan logo5. 4chan is a popular image board, a social media site where users post images and comments. 4chan has been involved in many Internet attacks attributed to “anonymous,” which is the only username that all 4chan users can get. Some of 4chans image boards contain the worst depravities found on the Internet. Many hackers spam their malware to the 4chan forums.

chatroulette6. Chatroulette allows webcam owners to connect and chat with random people. The nature of this anonymous webcam system makes it a likely target for Internet predators.

rb-

I have written about social media risks since 2009, yet many organizations still do not have a social media policy.  Why take the chances?

Does your organization have a social media policy?

What Blocked? Facebook? Twitter? YouTube? LinkedIn?

Does anybody actually allow 4Chan or Chatroulette?

Category: Security, Social Networking | Tags: , , , , ,
RB | August 28, 2010
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New School Year Same Security Threats

Another school year is starting up and security firm WatchGuard has a list of the top threat to school IT systems as classes start-up again.  Eric Aarrestad, Vice President at privately held WatchGuard Technologies says, ”With so much at risk and so much to gain by cybercriminals, today’s campus is one of the most dangerous IT environments around.” He continues, “Unlike enterprise organizations that can throw substantial resources towards network and data protection, schools and universities are more constrained, yet they face some of the most demanding security challenges due to the dynamic interaction between students and their school’s IT resources.”

WatchGuard’s top threats include:

Social Networks The security firm calls social networks, the number one threat to school and university networks is social networks, such as Facebook and MySpace. Unfortunately, social networks act as an ideal platform to launch a myriad of attacks against students and departments, including spam, viruses, malware, phishing and more. Adding to this, socially engineered attacks are often extremely successful due to the “trusted” environment that social networks create.

Malware As students and teachers use the web for education purposes, the Seattle-based firm company says many unwittingly expose themselves to drive-by downloads or corrupted websites, which inject malicious forms of software on their computers. Once infected, they risk becoming victims of identity theft or loss of personal information via spyware and keyloggers.

Viruses Today, email remains one of the primary ways for delivering viruses. According to the release, recent surveys suggest that 27 percent of users fail to keep their antivirus signatures which may, in any case, be unable to up stop the new generation of viruses with polymorphic properties.

Botnets The privately held security firm estimates that 15 to 20 percent of all school and university computers connected to the Internet may be part of a botnet. As part of a botnet, school and university systems may be used in a variety of unknown exploits, including spam delivery, denial of service attacks, click-fraud, identity theft and more.

Phishing Phishing scams continue to get more sophisticated and selective, with students being specifically targeted. WatchGuard claims that phishing attacks via social networks achieve a success rate of over 70 percent.

Hacking In a recent survey of education IT professionals, 23 percent ranked student hackers as one of their greatest threats to network security.

Access Control Usage of mobile devices and wireless access to education IT resources continues to plague network administrators. As use of mobile devices escalates, schools will face increasing challenges in managing authorized network access according to the security vendor.

WatchGuard Technologies provides a variety of Internet security software and hardware products, including firewalls, virtual private network (VPN) appliances, and anti-virus applications under the XTM, XCS, and e-Series brands.

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Category: Malware, Security | Tags: , , , , , ,
 

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