Social Media are infiltrating your computer

Since the introduction of the so-called “social media” Internet users are spending increasingly higher amounts of time being “social” online.

Which translates, of course, to less real-life socializing. 😀

Regardless of whether your friends, buddies, followers or readers share that same feeling of connection to you, there is a certain danger lurking in the shadows.

Trojans and viruses.

Although on very rare occasions there are incidents of malware existing directly on the social media platforms themselves – e.g. Facebook or Twitter – the real problem is email.

Email is still the #1 source of computer infection from trojans, viruses and other malware, delivered in the form of an attachment or as a URL forward to web sites that contain code which in turn infects the unsuspected visitors.

With social media being a daily source of communication, there is a huge increase in the number of fake emails that appear to be coming from Twitter, Facebook, Myspace etc. These emails mimic the notifications sent by the respective social media web sites, and more often they are carrying the little germs that will attempt to take over your computer.

With subject lines such as “You have a new message on Twitter” or “John Doe has sent you a message on Facebook” these emails are relying on a user’s instinctive reaction to a message that they are familiar with receiving many times a day.

Be careful with these messages – ensure you have a quality antivirus installed and active at all times and preferably never open such emails. Instead, just go to Facebook or Twitter or Myspace directly and check to see if indeed a message is waiting for you.