New research has found massive networks of fake accounts found on Twitter. The largest network ties together more than 350,000 accounts and further work suggests others may be even bigger. Mark James, IT Security Specialist at ESET commented below.
Mark James, IT Security Specialist at ESET:
“Social networks are big for many reasons, not just for their intended purposes, they can be used as the new way to measure fame and that can generate revenue for some people. Bots or automated Twitter accounts could be used to boost someone’s followers, not necessarily by the owner of the original account I must add. Social media is also a very good platform to spread malware. Dodgy links, fake websites and generating likes for malicious reasons are all ways we have seen social media being used. Of course it’s in Twitter’s interest to keep the numbers legit but with hardware and software available today it’s no surprise there are hundreds of thousands if not more fake or dummy accounts being used for the wrong reasons.”
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