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Experts warn of mounting social networking online security threat

A conference in the US has been warned that criminals have developed a new online security threat capable of targeting both businesses and private users through platforms such as social networking sites.

With sites such as Twitter and Facebook increasingly sharing their users' data with others, experts have reported a rise in 'XML bomb' attacks, whereby an attack code is inserted into a site's RSS feed and then delivered to users' machines.

In some instances, criminals are even able to overcome firewalls and other internet security applications to execute programmes on an end user's machine, while in other cases, fraudsters have been able to gain access to sensitive data, such as account numbers, Computer Weekly has reported.

Among those speaking at the RSA Conference 2009 in San Francisco was Steve Orrin, Intel director of security solutions, who said this new breed of attacks is also concerned with taking services offline.

These comments come just days after the Daily Telegraph reported that the Facebook page of former British prime minister Tony Blair has been hit by a group of hackers, with abusive messages left on his account.

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