The Dark Side of Web 2.0
The terms social media network and viral marketing have made it from the Web to the boardroom and back again. Both veteran and rookie public relations practitioners can agree on the merits of using social media to reach the audience.
But what happens when the audience tunes in, only to be rewarded with a viral message that is sinister in nature?
Musician’s MySpace Becomes Viral Vehicle
This is exactly what happened when the MySpace pages of several musicians, including Alicia Keys, were infected by hackers earlier this week.
“The MySpace page of singer Alicia Keys has become the latest vehicle for malware on the Web,” according to The New York Times.
Key’s site was targeted by hackers as part of a scheme to spread socially engineered attacks.
A similar story on mtv.com reports that the affected sites prompted visitors “to install fake codec, making their computers vulnerable to invasion.” Systems without the appropriate software patch can be infected.
Roger Thompson, chief technology officer of Exploit Prevent Labs, said that even users who have taken precautions to avoid attacks may still be vulnerable. “Security and functionality exist in an inverse relationship,” Thompson said. “The more functional you make anything, the less secure it tends to become.” Watch as Thompson demonstrates the attack at youtube.com.
MySpace is dealing with a situation that other social media networking sites would be wise to monitor closely.
MySpace Responds
A MySpace spokesperson told PC World that the company is taking measures to prevent future attacks.
“This was a hack of MySpace itself, and not a situation where attackers simply uncovered the user names and passwords for those pages,” Thompson said.
“Individuals who try to phish our members are violating the law and are not welcome on MySpace,” a MySpace spokesperson told PC World via email. “We have blocked and removed the source of this phishing attempt and restored the profile.”
Timing is Everything
The timing of the attack on Key’s page is terrible, with the musician’s latest album, “As I am,” scheduled for release on Nov. 13.
Rolling Stone’s Robert Christgau , self proclaimed dean of American rock critics, gives the album three stars, but fans disagree.
Social Media on Clearence
If MySpace and Facebook can’t be trusted to maintain Web site integrity, the value of social media networks as a communication vehicle is diminished significantly.
This security break down gets in the way of effective communication. It can be damaging to the relationship between the audience and client, while creating a PR crisis. Maybe this is just a one time occurence (fingers crossed). If it’s not, the price tag of social media networks may soon be marked with nine red letters: clearance.
I think that the hacking of these social network websites is terrible. I feel that today, nothing is safe and there’s always going to be that one “bad apple” that has to ruin everyone else’s fun. What I just don’t understand is how they can even begin to think that this is right or find it remotely fun. I admit, I am a facebook addict and hearing things like this make me very skeptical about the integrity of the website. (Especially now that the creators are starting to sell out and allow non-college students in and accept money for advertising.) What happened to the clearly defined line of right and wrong? Sure, the reps for myspace and facebook can say that so-and-so broke the law, but I just don’t think it is enough. I also think it is terrible when someone messes with someone else’s business, such as Alicia Keyes’. I mean yes, it is a free way for her to advertise, but that is her page, and her page only. I guess the only thing that can be done at this point is maybe myspace creating blocks on certain applications which eliminate users from having such complex and functional pages. From now on, I will continue closely monitor who can view my facebook and the content that I have on there which I know will probably soon lead to the demise of my facebook account.
I agree, hacking is a very important topic today with websites especially due to the fact that we as a society are turning to technology more and more for research. Because of this, I do feel it is necessary to increase the level of security on the internet. If someone wishes to make a blog or comment about something, of course they should be able to, but before it is posted it should be monitored. I think websites such as myspace and facebook have completely gone in the opposite direction from what they intended to be in the beginning. When I first started with my facebook page, I thought it was simply a college network. Of course that is not the case, and I think this in direct part to the low level of security. I feel if the owners of these websites are not satisfied with certain comments that are being made, then they should monitor what is being written, and maybe the internet should not be as open as it is right now.
Ashley,
Thanks for stopping by.
We should congratulate businesses and individuals (especially musicians) that “sell out”. The phrase has deeply rooted negativity attached to it in the music business, but I’ve always been more of a the-glass-is-half-full kinda guy.
Isn’t finding success from one’s creativity and work what we all hope for?
Noah
I almost forgot, Ashley. You are absolutely correct to be concerned about who can view your Facebook or MySpace pages. As you pointed out, it’s also important to consider what content you post online. In today’s world of online information, it’s not uncommon for employers to Google a prospect.
Social media networks should be used to compliment the portfolio, not to post last night’s drunken bar festivities.
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