Computer Support Network

I am often amazed by the number of people who use social networking sites such as Facebook and Myspace. If you broaden your search to include more business oriented locations such as Linkedin you will even spot many of the people who work here. With the high traffic high profile user base you have to ask the question, how secure are social networking sites?

Recently, Facebook has received a lot of bad press in regards to changes made in their user license agreement. The new ULA basically stated that any content that a user placed on Facebook, including user images, became their property to use at will. As can be imagined, this was met with instant outrage and Facebook was forced to revert back to their old user license agreement. While a big deal in its own right, this sort of problem is just the tip of the iceberg as far as social networking site are concerned.

The biggest security concern in recent months has been the proliferation of malicious third party applications. Facebook makes use of custom applications that do any number of things from share information to exist as mini games. The problem with this is that these applications rarely screened which means malicious code can be distributed unchecked. Since by its nature, Facebook contains numerous pieces of personal information this can result in any number of problems.

Officially Facebook will not claim responsibility for any of the applications that are part of their website.

“Developer applications are hosted on third-party servers,” Ryan McGeehan, of Facebook’s security team, told eWEEK. “When security-related bugs arise in third-party applications—it’s the developer’s responsibility to get them fixed, as their code does not live on Facebook systems.”

Policies such as these have put social networking sites under a great deal of scrutiny. With the potential of danger many have rejected the services altogether.

The problem is that social network websites fill a need in our information driven culture. People have become accustomed to the instant gratification of limitless information. People seek out information about associates before they will work with them. If this information cannot be found easily or provided readily people become annoyed and move on. By their nature, social networking websites provide a means to locate other likeminded individuals, which in turn can provide additional business. Security will always be a concern but if you use internet services intelligently and only install necessities than the inherent danger will not be any greater than if you were to check your email.

- Richard Keene
IT Computer Support of New York
Design and Optimization Department

Earlier this month IT Computer Support of New York ran an article in our newsletter about the benefits of a green business. While it might seem like a contradiction to devote resources into Green Technology to save money it really isn’t. Innovations in hardware technology have made it not only efficient but impractical not to take advantage of Green Technology.

Most people associate a Green Business plan with radical ideas about resource management and conservation but this is just one possibility. Small steps to reinvent your business are almost always the most efficient course of action. Since the cost of energy increase yearly it is a good place to start. Evaluate your current monthly electricity bill; this should also include heating/cooling costs for keeping hardware operational. When you compile this number for twelve months you should have a better understanding of just how costly old hardware upkeep can be.

Innovations in recent years have reduced the size of computers and storage devices while improving energy efficiency. Along with the base benefit of all around better hardware you reduce operational costs of all systems in your office network. Perhaps the best example of this would be iSCSI SAN technology which has a much smaller upkeep foot print than traditional storage area network technology. iSAN technology makes use of the basic philosophy of Virtualization. Simplify operation and increase operational output.

Ecological responsibility is not just a publicity stunt any longer and can have real beneficial effects on your business and the environment in general.

- Richard Keene
IT Computer Support of New York
Design and Optimization Department

Video sharing sites like Youtube and Google Video have become second nature and trusted by all web 2.0 users. The last two weeks has broken this trust, however, as Google Video have been targeted by blackhat SEO campaign operators. The site has been put to use to spread malware using Google’s own search engine rank algorithms against themselves. Because this method of infiltration is a new development in malware distribution it is very import to understand what it is and how it happened.

The current exploit has targeted over 400,000 search queries. The hijacked videos direct site visitors to adult oriented websites which deliver malware through hidden downloads. The reason why the number of targets phrases is so high is because instead of targeting obvious keywords the scammers have piggybacked their content on legitimate videos. This is where the problem becomes severe; as with all content on video sharing websites the more visitors the higher the placement. The result is a self reinforcing problem; the more viewers, the more malware distributed, the higher the placement in Google.

Because it may not be possible to tell a legitimate video from malware infected clip it is important to understand how the malware gets onto your computer. When the video is clicked the user is redirected to a secondary domain. This website closely resembles Youtube in design so it is important to pay attention to the URL. From here the user is given a popup message that states, “Your Flash Version is too old. Your browser cannot play this file. Click “OK” to download and install update for Flash Video Player”. If the user accepts the malware (AutoTDSS.BNA!worm) is downloaded and must be removed manually.

At the time of writing this Google is aware of the problem and looks to create a solution but the exact timeframe is not known. The thing to keep in mind is that because content on video sharing websites is supplied by normal users there is no guarantee that content will be secure. Google and Youtube have always provided good moderation to their websites but it’s inevitable that things slip through the cracks. The best defense is to be aware of abnormal behavior when you visit such websites. If you do run into suspicious activity contact the site administrator as soon as possible.

- Richard Keene
IT Computer Support of New York
Design and Optimization Department