August 3rd, 2009
Twitter turns to Google for help with malware attacks
As it scrambles to cope with a noticeable surge in malware attacks targeting its users, Twitter has found a friend in Google.
The popular micro-blogging service has quietly started using the Google Safe Browsing API to block links to known malicious Web sites.
[ SEE: Guy Kawasaki's Twitter account hijacked, pushes Windows and Mac malware ]
The Safe Browsing API allows client applications to check URLs against Google’s constantly updated blacklists of suspected phishing and malware pages.
F-Secure’s Mikko Hyponnen first noticed the anti-malware blocker on Twitter earlier today. If a tweet contains a link to a site blacklisted by Google, Twitter blocks the communication with a notice that it contains a URL to a known malware site (click image for full version):
The move could not have come sooner. Twitter has slowly emerged as a lucrative phishing spot for identity thieves and malware purveyors. Over the last six months, the service has been hit by a variety of Trojan, worm and spam attacks and high-profile account hijacking.
The company has already retained a well-respected penetration testing firm to audit the security of its service and is in the process of beefing up its internal security staff.
Ryan Naraine is a journalist and security evangelist at Kaspersky Lab. He manages Threatpost.com, a security news portal. Here is Ryan's full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
For daily updates on Ryan's activities, follow him on Twitter.
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