Sexy Snapchat messages lure users to dangerous places
Social Media // Web Services
Spammers have discovered how to steal brand-name short domains – like usat.ly (USA Today) and cbsloc.al (CBS Local) -- to create a false sense of security.
Underneath the legit-looking URLs are fraudulent links that surreptitiously direct users to sign-up for adult webcam sites.
One spam message reads, “ok. . .so just goto http://on.natgeo.com/XXX and click the green “Accept invite” button on the top of my profile. ..might have to create a username before you can see my web-cam”
Symantec reports, “Some of the brands affected used the AddThis social bookmarking service who recently stopped requiring users to reveal their API key in plain text as part of the AddThis website embed code.”
Public exposure of API keys gives anybody the ability to hack accounts and, in this case, create short URLs using other people's domains.
ThreatWatch is a regularly updated catalog of data breaches successfully striking every sector of the globe, as reported by journalists, researchers and the victims themselves.