Beware Hijacked Social Networking Accounts, Fbi Warns

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Beware Hijacked Social Networking Accounts, FBI Warns

Social networking sites are becoming a more popular attack vector for cybercriminals because people trust those they believe to be friends.

By Thomas Claburn

InformationWeek

Think twice before wiring money to help a Facebook friend who claims to be in trouble in a foreign country. Marking the commencement of National Cybersecurity Awareness Month, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on Thursday warned that there's been an increase in hijacked social networking accounts and that cybercriminals are using these accounts to defraud victims' friends.

Since 2006, there have been 3,200 reports of account hijackings, according to the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3). Such scams often begin with spam messages.

"When opened, the spam allows the cyber intruders to steal passwords for any account on the computer, including social networking sites," the FBI said. "The thieves then change the user's passwords and eventually send out distress messages claiming they are in some sort of legal or medical peril and requesting money from their social networking contacts."

full story - IWeek - http://www.informationweek.com/news/securi...cleID=220300878