Govt warns users of Facebook, Twitter of malware

The government has warned the users of social networking sites such as Facebook, Myspace and Twitter of a virus that is spreading through these sites targeting the members.     

Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In), under the Department of Information Technology, the apex body that monitors Internet security threats in the country, said a new worm 'Koobface' is propagating through social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace, hi5, Bebo and Twitter.     

CERT said the virus is spreading by sending spam containing a message with a link to a video to people on these sites.     

The virus is particularly dangerous as it uses the infected machine to target other systems and distribute additional malware, generate 'pay per click' advertising revenue and steal sensitive data, CERT said on its website.

The Koobface works by taking control of social networking sites and spamming friends with messages containing links to sites that lead to malware traps.

Once the link is clicked, it redirects the user to a website designed to mimic YouTube (but is actually named YuoTube), which asks the user to install an executable (.EXE) file to be able to watch the video.     

Security firm Trend Micro said social networks such as Facebook and Twitter have become prime targets of cyber criminals due to easy access of personal information on these sites.     

As more and more people are communicating through social networks, they are fast becoming more viable platform for criminals to carry on with their fraudulent activities, it added.