Choose your friends wisely, even on Internet

That's the message cyber experts are giving to users of Twitter, Facebook and other social networking sites

Friends, fans and followers can actually harm you, especially those on Facebook, Twitter and other social networking websites.

Cyber experts have warned that cyber criminals are using Twitter accounts to control a network of a couple hundred infected personal computers. The crooks are using Twitter accounts to send out what looks like garbled messages, which turn out to be commands for computers in a Botnet to visit malicious websites where they can download programmes that steal banking passwords.



Botnet is a network of infected computers often used by hackers to steal identities and power other scams.

The garbled messages are control signals for the few hundred infected Botnet PCs.

Gurgaon-based cyber expert Himanshu Tiwari said, "As soon as one opens his or her social networking account the Botnet gets active which remains in the browser. So, it is advisable that you choose your friends on the Internet wisely, as the magnitude of the current attacks is very high."

The compromised Twitter account then sends out information to different computers from where additional threats could be downloaded.

"Tweeterers should refrain from accepting friends or follow requests from people they don't know or trust on social networking sites, and clicking on links from unknown or untrusted sources," cyber crime expert Vivek Vohra said. Even the government has warned users of Facebook, MySpace and Twitter of Koobface virus spreading through the social networking sites. According to the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT), which is part of the Department of Information Technology, sites such as hi5 and Bebo are also vulnerable.

The virus is particularly dangerous as it uses an infected machine to target other systems, distribute additional malware (malignant software), generate "pay-per-click" advertising revenue and even steal sensitive data, the CERT said on its website.

The Koobface works by taking control of social networking sites and spamming friends with messages containing links to sites that lead to malware traps. As more people communicate through networking sites, they are increasingly becoming susceptible to online criminals out to commit frauds, the CERT said

WHAT IS BOTNET
A Botnet or robot network is a group of computers running a computer application, controlled and manipulated only by the owner or the software source. Botnet may refer to a legitimate network of several computers that shares programme processing among them.