New research from virtualisation firm Nebulas Solutions Group has revealed that hackers are increasingly targeting social network sites as the popularity of Twitter and Facebook continues to grow.
The company’s Web Hacking Incidents Database (WHID) examined trends for the first half of 2009 and found that social networking sites were the most targeted vertical market, making up 19% of all attacking incidents.
The report, released in conjunction with Breach Security, also revealed a 30% leap in overall web attacks compared to the first half of 2008.
Nick Garlick, Managing Director of Nebulas Solutions Group, said: “The report’s findings clearly show that social networking sites are being targeted. We’ve seen and heard anecdotal evidence that Web 2.0 applications are being attacked more frequently and more aggressively, but the scale of these findings show very clearly that organisations must now look very closely at their security policies and procedures around Web 2.0.”
Defacement of websites remains the most common outcome of a web attack (28%), followed by the leaking of sensitive information (26%) and disinformation (19%), which Nebulas claims is mostly due to the hacking of celebrity accounts on sites such as Twitter.
Social networking sites became the most-targeted vertical during the first half of the year, replacing government/law enforcement sites, which have dropped to third. Their popularity in 2008 was probably as a result of the US election, Nebulas said.
“The dramatic rise in attacks against social networking sites this year can primarily be attributed to attacks on popular new technologies like Twitter, where cross-site scripting and CSRF worms were unleashed,” said Ryan Barnett, director of application security research for Breach Security. “The WHID report demonstrates that hackers can be fickle, following popular culture and trends to achieve the most visible effect for their efforts, which means that companies must be vigilant in implementing web application systems and monitoring application activity.”
