Hackers focusing on web 2.0 sites

Virus writers are turning their attention to social networking sites and other user-generated content networks to steal personal information and create botnets, according to an anti-virus expert.

Toralv Dirro, security strategist at IT security company McAfee's Avert Labs research team said that over the last ten years the threat landscape had changed beyond recognition and that hackers were now looking at attacking new web 2.0-style sites as they were rich in sensitive data.

"Malware is getting more commercial. We expect new platforms and applications to be attacked if there is any money to be made out of it," he said. "As users can just about post anything, so can hackers. We have seen many examples of profile pages containing malware that then get downloaded by victims."

Dirro pointed to an example of a worm that attacked Wikipedia users visiting a booby-trapped page created by hackers. The page was used to trick users into downloading malware thinking it was fix for the Blaster worm last year. It was just the start of a new trend in viruses.

"Web 2.0 sites are becoming more popular and I expect more worms to appear on these sites," said Dirro.

He also predicted that mobile phones would in future be under the spotlight of malware writers as their functionality approaches that of a computer.

"Mobile phone viruses are not much of a threat at present as there are a lot of different types of phones and worms don't move easily between platforms," he said. "Most people use phones for talking at present but in the future more handsets will be used to access internet and this will lead to more worms circulating on these devices."

Dirro also said that there was a very possibility that in the future home networks could be attacked by cyberburglars.

"If these home networks are set up to monitor and arm burglar alarms, then hackers could access these systems, shut off the security over the internet. A burglar could then easily break into a victim's home and steal."

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