When Twitter launched five years ago not only did the service bring micro-blogging to the masses, it also brought malware to unsuspecting users, with that trend continuing well into 2011.
Whether the site was attacked through straight forward hacks, clickjacking, worms, trending scams or direct message hacks, the fight to keep users safe has been a major concern for the company that is now valued at nearly $10 billion. When Twitter takes into consideration that their nearly 200 million users tend to be an an ever increasing risk compared to fellow social networking company Facebook, the need for action appears even more urgent.
How bad have the malware and other virus exploits been? In 2010 the FTC launched an investigation to determine if Twitter was doing enough to protect their growing base of registered users who had already grown to numbers of more than 150 million at the time of the investigation.
Have you ever watched your Twitter account become hijacked? Share your stories with us and don’t feel ashamed, I know computer programmers who have watched their accounts become compromised while using the service.
Here’s the Infographic courtesy of Kaspersky Lab’s SecureList blog:
Personally I’m happy with the FTC’s decision to perform a bi-annual security audit, it’s just surprising that it took them until 2010 to make that audit a reality.
