Tech Talk

An assault is raging on Twitter.

Thousands of accounts on the popular social network have been hijacked and turned into spammers at a speed never before seen, Mashable reports. It may be tied to the recent attack against Gawker and its 1.3 million commenters.

The tweets link to domains containing “acainews,” the technology blog reports — and it is strongly advised to steer clear of such links. Many of the tweets seem to advertise a berry-based product that will help folks to lose weight.

Folks operating compromised accounts should immediately change their passwords and then check if their accounts have been linked to unknown third-party accounts.

Tech Talk advises folks never to use the password for more than one account, that all passwords are at least 12 characters long and contain special characters, numbers and capital letters and to change all passwords every 30 days.

The Connecticut State Police is warning residents to be wary of graphic e-mails.

Officers in Troop E in Montville are investigating a graphic e-mail sent to e-mail accounts throughout southeastern Connecticut. The public is asked to delete any e-mail with the subject of: ” We are the world, we are the children……..enjoy.”

The contents of the e-mail are graphic and may contain a virus that will further spread the virus to infected users’ contacts, police warn.

The State Police has e-mailed known users who have received the e-mail with a note containing the subject: “STATE POLICE ***WARNING****”

Tech Talk advises residents across Connecticut and throughout the United States to be on the lookout given the apparent ease at which the virus could spread.

As always, Tech Talk warns users to be wary of any e-mails that are not from known recipients; appear to be SPAM or have offers seemingly too good to be true — even if they are from the accounts of trusted individuals. As this case highlights, it is not difficult for accounts to be compromised.

It is also a good idea to update anti-virus software.

Internet surfers have yet another thing to worry about — having their browsing history posted for hundreds of millions of people to see.

A Japanese trojan virus known as Kenzero is installing itself on computers using a popular file-share service, the BBC reports.

But that’s only the beginning.

The malware, which targets folks downloading illegal copies of certain games, then reportedly publishes the user’s surfing history and demands ransom via e-mail or pop-up message to “settle your violation of copyright law.”

The BBC reports that 5,500 people have been infected.

Kenzero has also been known to encrypt users’ files before demanding a fee for a decryption key, the news organization reports.

The BBC reports:

It offers a “pretrial settlement” fine of $400 (£258) payable by credit card, and warns of costly court cases and even jail sentences if the victim ignores the notice. However rather than take the money, the outfit sells on the credit card details, said Mr Ferguson.

Users are advised not to pay the blackmail, but rather to remove the malware.

Internet users across the country have woken up this week to devastating news of new malware that could plant child pornography onto innocent people’s computers.

And the idea isn’t just hypothetical, it has apparently already happened and ruined one man’s life, and almost resulted in prison-time.

CBS News reported this week:

The AP story reportedabout the case of Michael Fiola, a former Massachusetts state employee whose state-owned work computer was found to contain illegal child pornography images. He was fired and charged with possession of child pornography which, had he been convicted, could have landed him in prison for up to five years, according to the AP.

However, the charges were ultimately dropped when his attorneys were able to prove the number of sites visited in the actual time frame would not be possible by a  human being.

CBS News explored this issue and determined the likelihood of such a case happening to the typical user is slim.

Among the reasons why:

• Most malware is planted to make money, and there is no indication this practice would rake in the dough.
• Images put on someone else’s computer would not be accessible whenever the planter wanted it.
• A digital trail is often left between the planter’s system and victim’s computer.
• The time lapse between image downloads is often much higher when a computer does it than when a person does.
• The prosecution will have to prove the defendant knowingly and intentionally possessed, received or distributed child pornography.

Also, users who keep their system security up-to-date should be relatively safe.

CBS advises:

• Making sure that your operating system and regularly used software are up-to-date.
• Using good software addressing malware, phishing attacks, and/or spam, and keeping it up to date. Subscriptions to paid programs should be renewed.
• Being cautious about spam and about providing information to sites you navigate to from links within even the most legitimate-appearing e-mails.

The Koobface virus has made its way to Twitter and is spreading as users unsuspectingly click the virus’ link attached to the promise of a home video.

The Koobface virus is being distributed in tweets promoting a non-existent home video. If you see it, DO NOT click it.

The computer worm, that has plagued other social networks — including Facebook and MySpace — is fooling users into installing viruses on their computers and then tweeting the malicious link.

After clicking the link, users are directed to what appears to be a YouTube video, the technology Web site Mashable reports. After the page loads, the user is asked to upgrade their Flash player.  But instead of getting Flash, they are downloading a virus that could collect sensitive personal information like credit card numbers.

Twitter, in response, said they are suspending accounts found to be sending the bogus messages.  Twitter users with suspended accounts are being notified via e-mail.

In short: Don’t ever click a link that doesn’t seem consistent with the user’s particular post pattern.  And while it’s difficult to predict exactly what could be a virus, malicious software is often hidden behind misspelled messages or items that promise to share videos.

Fortunately, Mashable has already found a fix on Trend Labs.

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With an explosion of social networks — including Twitter, Facebook and MySpace — come an explosion of viruses and ways to become victimized.

Social networking sites, like Facebook, can connect more than friends -- they can connect viruses to potential victims.

If you think you’re too smart to become a victim, you could be in trouble.

Even the tech-savviest users have been rocked by clever hackers.

If you see a message like this — Our caandid cammera saw eeverything you werre doiing.Our caandid cammera saw eeverything you werre doiing — DON’T CLICK IT.

It is likely it’s a link to something you will soon regret clicking.

You may fall victim to a virus or the unvoluntary sharing of your password or other personal and potentially sensative information.

Generally, typos or invitations to check out a video are good indiciations of something bad.  Also, if the message inconsistent with what the sender generally sends, you may want to check with your friend before clicking.

For more information and access to free virus scanners, check out Facebook’s security page.