Free security product vets Twitter links

1 comment | I like it!
June 23, 2009, 10:21 AM —  IDG News Service — 

As Twitter becomes increasingly abused by hackers, Finjan Software released on Tuesday a free browser add-on with a new feature that scans links and warns if they point to a page containing malware.

The SecureTwitter component is wrapped into SecureBrowsing, a plug-in for either the Firefox or Internet Explorer browsers, said Yuval Ben-Itzhak, Finjan's CTO.

SecureTwitter is designed to warn people about links that people post on the micro-blogging service. Because of Twitter's 140-character limit, most of the URLs (Uniform Resource Locators) posted have been shortened using services such as Bit.ly or TinyURL.

Those services completely obscure the true destination of the link, which is dangerous since users have no idea that they could be directed straight to a site that will look for software vulnerabilities in order to infect the PC with malware.

Even if a URL isn't shortened, it's nearly impossible to tell if a site may host malware since many legitimate sites have been hacked, too.

"The hacker is taking advantage that their content is now being served by legitimate sites, and there's high traffic on these sites today," Ben-Itzhak said. "This is how they distribute their malicious code."

SecureBrowsing shows either a green check next to a link indicating that the target Web site is fine or a red "X" if it's bad. SecureBrowsing may also show a question mark if the site can't be scanned.

Upon visiting Twitter, users will see a rotating circle as Finjan is scanning the URLs. The links are sent to Finjan's data center, which performs the scan and reports back within a couple of seconds. A pop-up window contains a link that will take a user to Finjan's site for an explanation of why the site has been flagged as bad.

SecureBrowsing will also scan links in other Web-based services and social networking sites such as Bebo, Digg, Slashdot, MySpace, Gmail and for Google and Yahoo searches.

Finjan has made SecureBrowsing free for consumers since it sells an enterprise appliance under the Vital Security brand that will scan Web links, monitor Web traffic and control bandwidth usage, among other functions.

A couple of other vendors have products similar to SecureBrowsing. AVG has a free product called LinkScanner, and McAfee has one called SiteAdvisor, both of which are intended to give users more information about the safety of the sites they're considering browsing. Neither LinkScanner nor SiteAdvisor scan Twitter links.

IDG News Service

Sign up for ITworld's Daily newsletter
Follow ITworld on Twitter @IT_world

I like it!
Close

On Twitter now

twitter

Powered by Twitter
You are logged in | Sign out
Sign in and post to Twitter

What are you thinking?

Cancel Tweet sent

On Twitter now

Comments

AVG LinkScanner on Twitter

Besides, LinkScanner in on Twitter
| reply
peer-to-peer

jfruh
Apple syncing patent can't come soon enough

pasmith
New Twitter features borrow from 3rd party clients

Esther Schindler
Open Source Changes the Software Acquisition Process

mikelgan
How to set up continuous podcast play on the new iTunes

David Strom
Five important Windows 7 mobility features

sjvn
Guard your Wi-Fi for your own sake                        

Sandra Henry-Stocker
Grepping on Whole Words

 

Sidekick: The Good News & the Bad News
Either way you look at it Microsoft Data Center management did not follow standards or best practices in this failure. In which case it makes me wonder more about the outsourcing of corporate data much less personal data.
- mburton325

Join the conversation here

The Daily Tip

The Daily TipQuick, practical advice for IT pros. Made fresh daily.

Hot tips:

Want to cash in on your IT savvy? Send your tip to tips@itworld.com. If we post it, we'll send you a $25 Amazon e-gift card.

Newsletters

Subscribe to ITWORLD TODAY and receive the latest IT news and analysis.

I would like to receive offers via email from ITworld partners.
By clicking submit you agree to the terms and conditions outlined in ITworld's privacy policy.
Featured Sponsor

AISO founders envisioned a Web hosting company that was environmentally friendly. While the company employed energy-efficient innovations like solar panels, its infrastructure produced unacceptable power and cooling requirements. Find out how AISO leveraged AMD technology to overcome their challenge in this case study white paper.

In this whitepaper, Scalar explores the opportunity to change the landscape with respect to mission critical databases built around Oracle. Leveraging technologies such as Linux, high-end commodity processing power and Oracle RAC technology to architect, design, build and maintain database infrastructure that delivers maximum availability, reliability and performance at a fraction of traditional cost.

On a typical day, weather.com, the Web site for The Weather Channel in Atlanta, serves up between 15 million and 20 million page views. But in September 2004, when back-to-back hurricanes ransacked Florida, the peak traffic on one day more than tripled: over 70 million page views by more than 7 million unique visitors. Read the full success story now.

Marketplace