Beware anti virus tweets

Malware authors are on the constant lookout for new ways to spread their software and one of these ways is Twitter. According to Kaspersky, hundreds of compromised accounts - hacked or whatever - have been used to send out mass spam tweets on the social networking service. If you see a tweet mentioning an anti virus program, such as "Excellent anti-virus..." or "Proven anti-virus" you should not click the links in them.

One of the ways in which to determine whether a link is safe or not is to look at the URL. Some domains are popular with malware authors and it is always suspicious if a link points to a foreign website. I got a bunch of emails offering various products and services today and all point to a .ru website. They are obviously suspicious and I won't be clicking the links.

The problem with Twitter is that URLs are shortened in order not to waste precious characters that could be used in the tweet itself. So you can't see where URLs actually point to. Think twice before clicking links to anti virus products mentioned in tweets or to products or services that seem too good to be true. They could lead you to a site that peddles malware or rips you off.