Aug
19
Filed Under:
MISCELLANEOUS
More Hackers Targeting Social Networking Sites
19 August 2009
There has a been a steady increase in attacks targeting social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook during the first half of 2009, according to a new report by the Web Hacking Incidents Database (WHID).
Accounting for 19 percent of hacking incidents, social networking sites
were the most targeted vertical in the first half of this year.
The WHID project collects and analyzes application-related security incidents, focusing on publicly reported application security attacks that have an identified outcome. The report looked at security incidents that happened from January 1 through July 31, 2009, and found a 30 percent increase in overall attacks compared to the first half of 2008.
Defacement of websites remains the most common outcome of web attacks (28%), while leakage of sensitive information is a close second (26%, up from 19% in 2008). Disinformation is a distant third (19%) mostly due to the hacking of celebrity online identities.
SQL Injection remains the most common type of attack accounting for nearly one-fifth of all security breaches (19%).
"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, a contributor to the report.
"Looking back at 2008, a notable election year, government-related organizations were the top-ranked attack victims and have now dropped to number three. 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."
The WHID project collects and analyzes application-related security incidents, focusing on publicly reported application security attacks that have an identified outcome. The report looked at security incidents that happened from January 1 through July 31, 2009, and found a 30 percent increase in overall attacks compared to the first half of 2008.
Defacement of websites remains the most common outcome of web attacks (28%), while leakage of sensitive information is a close second (26%, up from 19% in 2008). Disinformation is a distant third (19%) mostly due to the hacking of celebrity online identities.
SQL Injection remains the most common type of attack accounting for nearly one-fifth of all security breaches (19%).
"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, a contributor to the report.
"Looking back at 2008, a notable election year, government-related organizations were the top-ranked attack victims and have now dropped to number three. 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."
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