21 May 2010

Businesses warned of 'socially-engineered hacks'

Socially-engineered hacks are on the rise and could pose a risk to business data security, it has been stated.

David Emm, senior security researcher for Kaspersky Lab, said a new form of hacking has emerged that combines malicious content with social engineering exploits to get unsuspecting victims to click on links.

He commented: "You get an approach that looks like it's from a legitimate contact and then you look at the item and you've got malware on your system."

Mr Emm noted that instant messaging can also pose a risk to businesses, as malicious content could be spread quickly through IT infrastructure by unknowing workers sending messages to one another.

According to Consumer Reports, more than half (52 per cent) of adult social network users have posted personal information online in the past.

Furthermore, 23 per cent of Facebook users are unaware that the site provides privacy controls and 42 per cent have posted their full date of birth online.