New Twitter Worm Spreads Malware Using Google's URL Shortner goo.gl

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Posted by Anand Kahaly in Twitter on January 23, 2011 | 0 Comments

twitter_logo-01 A new Twitter worm has been posting links using goo.gl on Twitter user's accounts without their knowledge. goo.gl is Google's url shortner and equivalent to tinyurl or bit.ly. The malicious link points to a rogue website that asks the user to install a fake anti-virus solution called Security Shield. Don't install Security Shield. This so called Security Shield anti-virus solution is a malware.

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Once you click on the link, it takes you to the rogue anti-virus website, where you will receive a warning that your machine is running suspicious applications. The warning invites users to remove all the threats from their computer, and download the ‘Security Shield’ rogue anti-virus application. As usual, the result of downloading the program is that the user’s machine is infected with malicious programs. The problem with url shortner is that you don't know exactly what you are clicking on before you land up in websites with malicious softwares.

The Twitter security team is working on removing the malicious goo.gl links and resetting the password of compromised accounts.

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Twitter's security team member Del Harvey gave an update on 20th Jan 2011 which said that they are working on removing the malicious links and resetting the passwords of compromised accounts. If you want to be updated about recent Twitter threats and security issues, follow Twitter Safety or Del Harvey.

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Its better to be safe than sorry. It is advisable that you don't use the same password for all your internet accounts like Twitter, Facebook, gmail etc. Use strong passwords with special characters, numbers and letters in it and don't click on suspicious links. Even if you happen to click on the goo.gl link, please don't install the Security Shield malware.

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If you see goo.gl links posted in your Twitter account without your permission, reset your Twitter password immediately. Then run a full virus scan on your system with any popular anti-virus solution. Hopefully, Sophos and Kaspersky will detect it.

[ Sources: Sophos, Kaspersky ]

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