The English-language social networking site MySpace has had a bad reputation for some time. ZDNet reported, for example, that job applicants are already being rejected due to overly revealing profiles. Human resources departments of large companies are increasingly using MySpace to get an impression of the lifestyles and values of the individuals behind the applications. Since such profiles often list hobbies like "smoking joints," "blowing things up," etc., whether true or purely fabricated to create an image, the hiring chances for MySpace members are poor.
However, entirely different circles are also interested in the publicly accessible profiles. Der Spiegel claims to have learned that intelligence agencies like the American NSA use the social network to create personality profiles and relationship networks:
Now, the danger extends from the over 100 million members to all visitors of the site. Experts warn that surfers are already being infected with worms and spyware when accessing profiles and pages of members. According to malware analysts, banners displayed by an advertising server have attempted in recent weeks to burden visitors of MySpace with spyware. Apparently, the attackers exploited a vulnerability in the processing of WMF images in Windows. Now, MySpace is also warning about infected user profile pages that infect Windows PCs with worms through a vulnerability in Adobe's Macromedia Flash. This is intended to redirect visitors to foreign websites.
However, entirely different circles are also interested in the publicly accessible profiles. Der Spiegel claims to have learned that intelligence agencies like the American NSA use the social network to create personality profiles and relationship networks:
What emerges are actual sociograms that reveal interest-based networks of like-minded individuals. Such data ... the secret services attempted to combine with other data pools. The possibilities are virtually limitless: Combining with financial data from banks, land registry entries, shopping discount cards, mobile phone and credit card statements could, in the medium term, make citizens truly transparent through self-supplied data. Everything is possible, from capturing political attitudes to suspicious hobbies like flying or shooting to movement profiles.
Now, the danger extends from the over 100 million members to all visitors of the site. Experts warn that surfers are already being infected with worms and spyware when accessing profiles and pages of members. According to malware analysts, banners displayed by an advertising server have attempted in recent weeks to burden visitors of MySpace with spyware. Apparently, the attackers exploited a vulnerability in the processing of WMF images in Windows. Now, MySpace is also warning about infected user profile pages that infect Windows PCs with worms through a vulnerability in Adobe's Macromedia Flash. This is intended to redirect visitors to foreign websites.
