An interesting Twitter message started making the rounds yesterday, and we received a few from our friends over at the Newsplex.  The message read “haha. This you???? http://tr.im/PyJZ“, after following the link we were met with a phishing redirect to MySpace.com, and all of the horror that entails.

While the actual risk over having your twitter or MySpace page hacked is relatively low, the true concern lies in other software downloads that are often recommended to friends or mass mailed to buddy lists.  Most malware in todays world consists of either software applications which attempt to convince you to spend money/enter credit card information, or a much less noticeable piece of software, called a Bot.  Bots are simply servers, residing on your computer, which query for commands handed out by a central website or IRC channel.  With massive infections, such as the Conficker Botnet having roughly 10,000,000 estimated PCs under its control, these networks can be utilized for everything from Spam to Denial Of Service attacks (which haven’t made mainstream news for some time).  At it’s peak, the Conficker network was able to send roughly 10 billion pieces of spam e-mail each day, and botnet system like it are the actual culprit behind most of the spam seen in e-mail boxes constantly.

The most effective way to avoid potential infections is to team an up to date anti virus application with the latest browser of your choice, and the knowledge to review your address bar location (as shown above, it certainly doesn’t read MySpace.com) before submitting information.  For a free anti virus/anti spyware application, check out the recent release of Microsoft Security Essentials which has met with solid reviews (4.5/5 stars being awarded on CNET).  [Info]

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