Social media attacks are cyber attacks launched through social networking platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc. Attackers are drawn to social media platforms as they are filled with soft targets, are easy and cost effective to use, are simple to create fraudulent accounts and allow the spread of malicious content at an unprecedented scale and efficiency.

The 2011 Facebook Spam Campaign

Online advertising spending in the U.S. is on the rise. In the first quarter of 2011 alone, companies that sold online advertising reportedly surpassed $7 billion in revenue.1 Unfortunately, social engineering scams on Facebook also continue to thrive.2 How are the two related? Unsolicited Facebook spam in the form of status updates is actively infiltrating the social networking giant and aimed at tricking users into visiting websites ridden with survey scams and pop-up advertising, as is the case in the following analysis of a real-world example. This trend will continue to degrade the credibility of the online advertising industry and could possibly taint the images of the brands that these spam campaigns are targeting.