The 10 Dirtiest Social Network Malware Attacks

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No matter where you browse or what social media sites you frequent—porn will find its way onto your screen. We've learned to accept it since the AOL era. Nowadays, social networks such as Facebook and Twitter have taken more precautions in securing their sites from being plagued with x-rated pop-ups and explicit links. But as much as its users stay cautious of spam feeders, cybercriminals are still finding ways to break through their security firewalls to leave embarrassing updates on your walls and snatching up your personal information.

Though the recent Facebook porn hack has everyone on edge, it's worth noting that the world's biggest social network isn't the only social media outlet to have experienced an x-rated outbreak. Stemming back to the glory days of Myspace, we discovered that porn-related attacks have filtered through our profiles, unbeknownst to us for years. So being that there’s no true way of avoiding it, take some notes and play it safe by catching up on The 10 Dirtiest Social Network Malware Attacks.

Pornspace

Date: Dec. 4, 2006

Cybercriminals manipulated a flaw in Myspace’s security mailing list that allowed them to unleash a password-stealing worm coded within Apple’s QuickTime player which hijacked profiles and sent out porn-based spam to help push web traffic on porn sites. Anyone who visited an infected user’s “About” page fell victim to the scam and was tricked into signing in on a fake login screen, where all user info was stolen and a malicious QuickTime video stood embedded on a profile. The virus spread so quick to the point where Myspace had to shut down hundreds of profiles in order to remedy the problem.

Oedipus Complex

Date: June 8, 2008

bebo.com never really broke ground on the social media conglomerate, but it still experienced its fair share of controversy. A group of cyber punks hacked their way into the blogging site’s subdomain (http://secure.bebo.com) and redirected users to a family sex-themed porn site called Incest Reviews. Seeing how bebo’s daily visior count sat around 480,000, it was estimated that a few thousand subscribers were misguided to the incest-themed web portal and unmistakenly downloaded malware to their computers. If those were the type of hacks taking place, no wonder we all drifted towards Facebook and Twitter.

"My webcam thingy..."

Date: March 6, 2009

Nearly 750 Twitter accounts were hijacked and made to send out tweets to all accompanying followers to check out a 23-year-old female’s webcam performance—leading viewers to a porn portal that was designed to capture credit card information and passwords. The message that read  “hey! 23/Female. Come chat with me on my webcam thingy here www.{BLOCKED}.com” did damage in a period of two hours, causing the site to reset the passwords for the compromised accounts and remove the unadulterated spam. Twitter quickly warned subscribers on its blog and fixed the problem. Experts say that other sites and services had experienced a similar attack during the same time period.

Leighton Meester Sextape Scam

Date: June 23, 2009

Web entrepreneur and “former chief evangelist of Apple,” Guy Kawasaki, along with hundreds of others fell victim to a Twitter phishing attack that tricked users into logging on via a fake Twitter site and handing over their login information. Kawasaki was one of the many accounts tweeting about a homemade sextape featuring Gossip Girl hottie, Leighton Meester, rerouting them to a fake porn site where cybercriminals installed a Trojan horse onto their computer. The virus had affected over 1,600 of Kawasaki’s followers, according to Gary Warner, director of computer forensics with the University of Alabama. So wait, there isn't no Meester sextape? Damn. 

Fire Foxed

Date: Nov. 9, 2009

Those who accessed their Facebook profiles using Mozilla Firefox had been subjected to a click-jacking intrusion, routing them to a porn site that triggered a worm and gave hackers access to passwords cached in the browser. Facebook’s security team blocked the URL and took down the malicious links on all affected users’ walls, while an anonymous spokesperson assured the social community that only a few accounts had been encroached: "Overall, an extremely small percentage of users were affected." Though no actual figures were given, it should be denoted that the company reached 300 million users two months before the incident. So even if the undisclosed percentage reached 1 percent, that still sums up to 3 million users affected. Small percentage my ass.

Financial Hit

Date: Feb. 26, 2010

Internet-based retail bank, First Direct, along with its 800+ Twitter followers were affected by a phishing attack that sent pornographic messages to its supporters. The tweet read: 'hey, I've been having better sex and longer with this here.” Soon the viral infestation spread amongst other high-end UK financial firms such as Omni Credit Union and Advance Savings, resulting in thousands of hijacked Twitter accounts all together. 

Over The Rainbow

Date: Sept 21. 2010

Hackers embedded JavaScript code into Twitter messages which had the capability of retweeting, activating pop-ups, and redirecting users to porn sites. The security flaw spread to the point where Sarah Brown, wife of former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, had unknowingly sent malicious links to over 1 million of her followers. Sophos senior technology consultant Graham Cluley advised FoxNews.com of the virus (reffered to as "onMouseOver") and discussed user vulverability in terms of clicking spam-related links: "Thousands of Twitter accounts have posted messages exploiting the flaw …Some users are also seemingly deliberately exploiting the loophole to create tweets that contain blocks of color (known as 'rainbow tweets'). Because these messages can hide their true content they might prove too hard for some users to resist clicking on them."

Sextortion

Date: Nov. 3, 2010

Sometimes the most discriminating sexual-aimed hacks aren’t necessarily malware related. Take a look at the case of George Samuel Bronk. The online stalker broke into the email accounts of 3,200 women, in search of provocative images that he would then repost onto their Facebook pages without their knowledge. How did he learn such a trick? By using the same technique as the dude who broke into Sarah Palin’s email: Search for security question answers used for password recovery by email clients such as Gmail and Hotmail. After spreading illicit images of his victim’s on Facebook, cops traced Bronk’s IP address after a woman reported her profile hacked. He was found guilty of seven felonies including possession of child pornography and was sentenced to four years in the clink. 

Poking Millions

Date: Nov. 15, 2011

Facebook’s most recent spam attack left millions of users humiliated, as hardcore porn images, links, and videos flooded their news feeds and were sent as private messages to followers. All mouses were pointed at the international hacking ensemble Anonymous, who were rumored to be planning a take down of the site on November 5, but FB experts say the breach originated elsewhere. According to the site, members were being tricked into pasting and triggering malicious JavaScript onto their web browser’s URL bar. Days after the breach, spokesman Frederic Wolens claimed Facebook’s security team had “eliminated most of the spam” and were working on ways to “better defend against similar attacks in the future.” We can only hope so or else Google+ is the move.