A new study from Checkpoint focuses on the security of social services such as Facebook. Denmark is of course one of the countries of the world where the largest proportion of the population is on Facebook – it is believed that 2.2 million Danes have a profile on social networks – and therefore it may sound alarming, when Checkpoint concludes that 35 percent. of users are easy victims of phishing attacks.
This conclusion is based on a relatively small study, which has staged a “fake” phishing attacks on a number of random Facebook users. Check Point has set up an anonymous Facebook profile and sent message “see my newest photographs” with a link to 200 users.
It turned out that 71 of the 200 users clicked on the link. If there had been a phishing attack, it was so successful in luring a third of users into phishing page. Instead spent security company that page to warn users against clicking on links like in the future.
“The test emphasizes the power that social media has over people, and how vulnerable we as users are real. It’s really easy for an attacker to exploit social media like Facebook to spread malicious links, worms, Trojan horses and viruses to a large audience at once and within a few seconds, “says Anders Greve, who is Danish country manager for Check Point.
He warns against revealing personal information such as birth dates or home addresses on social networks.
“Users of social networks often think that they are operating in a safe and intimate private spaces. But there are plenty of internet sharks in the waters by pretending to be ‘friends’ just to steal personal and confidential information including bank details. Social networks must learn that they can not know it sure as Facebook and that they should take the same safety measures, such as by email, “says Anders Greve.
It is generally recommended that you should avoid clicking on strange or suspicious links, reject friend requests from unknown people and use different passwords for Facebook, Twitter email account and other services.
