When consumers and business operators outside of the fraud prevention industry consider cyber threats such as phishing and data mining,
they may picture complex homemade software and teams of brilliant programmers.
While this stereotype may have once been somewhat accurate, the truth is now
far more troubling. David Jacoby of Kapersky
Labs was one of several security bloggers to post
on the new TwitterNET Builder tool—literally, a two-click process that
allows anyone interested to turn their computer into part of a botnet using a
malicious Twitter profile. The profile then distributes commands to infected
computers.
Fortunately, the tool is not automatic in and of itself. If
not integrated into additional malicious software, it can be avoided by the
end-user by being aware of any and all executable files (.exe) he or she
downloads from e-mail messages or chat programs. Jacoby also states that the
code for the original software is easily identifiable by a quality, up-to-date
virus scanner. Read more on the TwitterNET phenomena at SecureList.