Twitter is being used to infect thousands of systems to carry out cyber attacks.
Cyber criminals have found a new platform to launch attacks on millions of computers in cyber space.
They are now using micro-blogging website Twitter to control and send orders to zombie computers infected by virus or malware, says a research report by Kaspersky Laboratories, a computer security solutions firm.
According to David Jacoby, a senior official of the company, a hacker tool named Twitternet Builder, which is used to form botnets or zombie computers, is being propagated through several famous social networking websites.
The trouble may land in your email box with some catchy subject line, such as ‘twitterdownloader’, which is commonly known to most Internet users.
One click on it and the user’s computer is infected by a Trojan that then begins to act on the commands given to it through an account created on Twitter.
The Kaspersky report also says that the malicious software tool infecting computers may also come as an attachment with chat conversations.
IT expert Sahir Hidayatullah from MIEL e-security said: “When hackers want to take control of a computer, they are not always interested in the data of that individual system. Sometimes, they just want to carry out cyber crimes through the infected system.
This way, the criminals can make an army of thousands of computers to act on their orders, without the knowledge of the systems’ owners.”
Hidayatullah said the hackers might also place orders through tweets and then carry out spam attacks in cyber space. “Also, the army of computers could be misused for propagating their ideology and carry out attacks on defence websites,” Hidayatullah pointed out.
Initially, botnets or zombie computers were controlled by cyber criminals through chat rooms. But now cyber criminals have started using websites like Twitter to run their activities. The user could never have any idea about the activities his infected computer is carrying out till his internet protocol address is detected by an agency investigating an illegal activity.
According to experts, the zombie computers are also being sold to other groups of cyber criminals who need large number of computers to carry out illegal activities online.
According to an estimate, the criminals charge anything between $10 and $200 for a thousand zombies.
Vijay Mukhi, advisor to Mumbai police on cyber safety, said the botnet attacks are being carried out from international locations.
“We are not able to catch the culprits because there is little international cooperation as far as cyber crimes are concerned.”
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}