With more than 100 million users registered to Twitter, the social media platform has quickly become a target for malware attacks. A new spyware campaign, in which cybercriminals pose as official Twitter staff, has hit the social networking site.
According to CNET, cybercriminals send messages to the email accounts of Twitter users that appear to be official messages from the company. The emails warn users that their accounts have been compromised and prompts the recipients to download a security module to protect themselves.
If users click the link, a Trojan horse is installed on the system that attackers can use to provide future instructions to the computer. In addition, the system will also be infected by pop ups and antivirus scareware.
"Legitimate Twitter emails changing the email address of user accounts include the new email address in the message body and do not describe or promote any new service, as many of these phishing emails do," warns Trend Micro, a Vietnamese antivirus firm.
Similar attacks have happened on other social media platforms as well. For example, Yahoo reported last week that a new attack attempts to get users to click a "hilarious video." However, the link installs a fake media player that steals log-in information. Security experts recommend that social media users not click any suspicious links and keep their antivirus software up to date.
