SNS under attack

Just the other day, Chief and I were watching “Eagle Eye” on HBO. Many of us remember this 2008 film with Shia LaBeouf (Jerry Shaw) and Michelle Monaghan (Rachel Holloman), as a pair who are brought together and coerced to an anonymous female (ARRIA). The plots revolves around a possible terrorist attack but this time, it is a super computer who through cyberspace coordinates action that leads Jerry and Rachel into the halls of the Capitol Bldg. Billy Bob Thornton plays FBI agent Thomas Morgan who towards the end believes Jerry. He charges into a UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) to help Jerry escape.

Today, realities of cyberattacks are happening around the world. Last year, news media, financial and government websites in South Korea felt coordinated attacks through cyberspace. The BBC News reported at least a 3rd wave of attacks last 09 July 2009. The report says, it was a "denial of service" attack” wherein virus-infected computers are hijacked and simultaneously directed to a particular site, overwhelming it with the sheer volume of traffic. Last October 30, 2009, the National Intelligence Service, South Korea's spy agency, pointed to North Korea's telecommunications ministry as the origin of the attacks. Someone like John McClane can be part of this unit? Remember in Die Hard 4.0 McClane fought off cyber terrorists. Photo from http://www.deseretnews.com

Even the website of DOH was hacked into last December. Hackers changed the photo of Secretary Duque. The TESDA site was also traffic was redirected to Smartmatic, who is supplying the poll machines for the May elections. A hacker also posted Arabic messages on the DOLE website. Also last year, hackers targeted three government websites namely: Department of Justice, the Philippine National Police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, and Information Technology and Electronic Commerce Council. Their traffic was redirected to another website.

According the latest study by Sophos, there also has been a rise of cyberattacks in social networks like Twitter and Facebook. The study revealed that 57 percent of online social network users reported getting spam in their virtual communities. This was a 70.6 percent jump from last year.

"Computer users are spending more time on social networks, sharing sensitive and valuable personal information, and hackers have sniffed out where the money is to be made," said Sophos senior technology consultant Graham Cluley.

Already Facebook is working with McAfee increase protection for its members, who now number around 350 million. That won’t be an easy task for the security team at Facebook. According to a news report, Facebook members are also “being offered free six-month subscriptions to McAfee security software and then discounted prices for continued service.”

Better safe than sorry. Thus, it always best to use security software, whether it be McAfee Virus Scan or Symantec's Norton Anti-Virus. Or get an external hard drive to back up your data. If you are a Mac use, get an iOmega EGO!




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