The Use of the Modern Social Web by Malicious Software

Malicious software thrives in the richness of the social web ecosystem, which incorporates mobile devices, reliable networks, powerful browsers and sociable users. Modern malware is programmed to take full advantage of these elements, which are especially potent in the context of social media and social networking websites. As the result, we’re seeing malware exhibit the following characteristics:

  • Using social networking sites to remotely direct malicious tools and attackers’ actions
  • Controlling social media content to provide attackers with financial and political rewards
  • Distributing links on websites with social capabilities to for autonomous malware propagation
  • Defrauding participants of the social web by using chat bots and other techniques

I created a brief presentation how malicious software makes use of these techniques to thrive on the social web and to offer lucrative benefits to malware authors and operators. If this is interesting to you, download my presentation, complete with full speaker notes and references (PDF).

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About the Author

I transform ideas into successful outcomes, building on my 25 years of experience in cybersecurity. As the CISO at Axonius, I lead the security program to earn customers' trust. I'm also a Faculty Fellow at SANS Institute, where I author and deliver training for incident responders. The diversity of cybersecurity roles I've held over the years and the accumulated expertise, allow me to create practical solutions that drive business growth.

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