Analysis of Malware Propagation in Twitter

Abstract

Abstract-Malware propagation in social networks is a potential risk that has not been well-studied yet as there are no formal threat models for social networks. In this paper we investigate the vulnerability and cost of spreading malware via Twitter. Towards this end we present three specific attack scenarios targeted for Twitter and systematically analyze the cost of staging each of these attacks. Our analysis presents the first step for understanding the threats on the security of a class of social networks. We identify the attack related parameters and verify these parameters by testing the attack on a NetLogobased simulator. Our analysis indicates that the cost of staging attacks to infect users of Twitter is low and that the proposed attack scenarios are plausible. Further, even with a low degree of connectivity and a low probability of clicking links, Twitter and its structure can be exploited by such attacks to infect many users with malware.

A Peer-Based Approach on Analyzing Hacked Twitter Accounts

“…The scenarios of misusing Twitter include impersonation [15], the creation of fake accounts (socalled "sybils") [16], phishing [17], malware distribution [18] or spamming campaigns [19]. Thomas et al [8] lay out that URLs that are posted on Twitter have a significantly higher likelihood of being followed than URIs in email spam, especially if the user account posting the link is trustworthy (e.g.…”

If it looks like a spammer and behaves like a spammer, it must be a spammer: analysis and detection of microblogging spam accounts

“…A similar campaign has been analyzed by [44], in which spam accounts flood out political messages following the announcement of Russia's parliamentary election results. In addition, classical forms of abuse such as spam and criminal monetization exist in Twitter including phishing scams [15], spreading malware [36], and redirecting victims to reputable websites via affiliate links [45] to generate income.…”

Twitter

“…A similar campaign has been analyzed [26], in which spam accounts flood out political messages following the announcement of Russia's parliamentary election results. In addition, classical forms of abuse such as spam and criminal monetization exist in Twitter including phishing scams [6], spreading malware [22], and redirecting victims to reputable websites via affiliate links [27] to generate income.…”