Spam alert: 40% of social network spam comes from Facebook

Symantec says there’s a cyclical pattern of spam between Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

Symantec monitored and analysed social network spam between April and June 2011 and reported the findings of the analysis. One of the patterns identified by researchers was that spam followed a cyclical pattern between the social media sites observed. Researchers observed a sudden surge in the number of attacks on Facebook, then a peak, and then a drastic decline. While the attacks on Facebook declined, researchers observed a rise in attacks on Twitter, which then gradually waned out, followed by a surge of attacks on YouTube, as below.

Most of the social network spam originated from botnets with 53 percent originating in the United States. Spam using the Facebook template contributed 40% of the total social network spam in this period.

Social network spam uses legitimate email notification templates from the social networking sites. The message alleges that the user has some unread messages or pending invites and a fake link is provided. The bogus link will direct users to a website that forces the download of malicious binaries, purports to be selling cheap enhancement drugs and replica products, pushes fake gambling casino sites, or advertises online adult dating sites, etc.

The huge user bases and growing popularity for each of these social networks are perhaps the main reasons that spammers are continually lured into this lucrative “business.”