from zdnet.com

Social-networking sites like Facebook and Twitter can expect more attention from cybercriminals in 2010, according to a new report (PDF) released Tuesday by McAfee Labs. Also at risk are users of Adobe Systems products including Acrobat Reader and Flash. And move over Microsoft; the security firm predicts that Google’s Chrome OS will “create another opportunity for malware writers to prey on users.”

The company also anticipates smarter and more dangerous Trojans that “follow the money,” as well as a “significant trend toward a more distributed and resilient botnet infrastructure that relies much more on peer-to-peer technologies.”

In a recorded interview (scroll down for audio) David Marcus, McAfee Labs’ director of security research and communications, said that he expects “an explosion of Facebook and other services targeted by cybercriminals.” In addition to malware like Koobface that spreads among Facebook users’ friends list, Marcus expects an increase in rogue Facebook applications.

“When you click yes to ‘do you want to allow this application to access your Facebook account,’ you’re giving that application access to all the data in your Facebook account,” he said. Facebook vets the third-party applications that it distributes, but rouge developers are finding other ways to get people to install unauthorized apps.

“A lot of the spammers and scammers will send fake Facebook application requests to users’ inboxes,” he said. Marcus recommends that you only install apps from within Facebook by clicking “browse more applications” in the Facebook application installer.”

Twitter vulnerabilities
According to McAfee, Twitter is vulnerable mostly because of URL-shortening services like bit.ly and tinyurl.com. There’s nothing wrong with Twitter or these services, but when you click on a shortened URL you have no idea where you’re going until after you get there. I would like to see a URL-shortening service that vets each URL for security and rejects those that are potentially dangerous. Twitter, according to the McAfee report is “also serving as a control vehicle for botnets.”

Criminals are now being more surgical in their attacks, singling out individuals and corporations as targets. The report points to the 10-month investigation of “GhostNet,” which McAfee Labs describes as a “network of at least 1,295 compromised computers in 103 countries” that “primarily belonged to government, aid groups, and activists.” The malicious code was delivered by e-mail with subject headings related to the Dali Lama and Tibet, according to the report.

The report also sites “a very targeted wave of attacks against the management of major companies,” as well as attacks carried out against “journalists from various media organizations, including Agence France Press, Dow Jose and Reuters based in China.”

Adobe products and Google Chrome vulnerable
Adobe products, especially its Acrobat Reader and Flash, are likely to replace Microsoft Office as the No. 1 software target, according to McAfee. It’s nothing they’ve (Adobe) done wrong,” Marcus said. “The bad guys go where the masses go” and because of the increasingly widespread use of Adobe products, “that tends to be what the bad buys will start looking to exploit. It really is nothing more sophisticated than that.”

Criminals are infecting PDF files and leveraging exploits in the opening of PDF documents, according to Marcus.

“Instead of viewing a PDF you’re actually taken to a website that downloads some type of malware to your machine.” Adobe plans to patch a critical hole in Reader and Acrobat on January 12.

There is also concern about Google’s Chrome operating system, which is expected to be officially released in 2010. Chrome, which will run Web-based applications, is likely to be vulnerable to attacks in HTML 5–the newest version of the hyper-text markup language that, says the report, “holds all the promises that today’s Web community seeks–primarily blurring and removing the lines between a Web application and a desktop application.”

McAfee also warned of banking Trojans with “new tactics that went well beyond the rather simple keylogging-with-screenshots” that were used earlier. Trojans now use rootkit techniques to hide on a victim’s system to disable antivirus software.

“Often the victim’s computer becomes part of a botnet and receives malware configuration updates,” the report said.

For more on the threats on Facebook and Twitter read “Using Facebook and Twitter safely” on CNET.

Cause for optimism
The report did end with some optimism, calling 2009 a good year for law enforcement. In November 2009, the U.S. Department of Justice indicted nine individuals “from Russia, Moldova, and Estonia who were allegedly responsible for $9 million in customer payroll data compromises at RBS WorldPay.”

The year also “saw the conviction of the infamous “Godfather of Spam,” Alan Ralsky of Michigan, and his criminal syndicate, which was responsible for generating a significant portion of the world’s unsolicited e-mail,” McAfee said.

“You started to see that not a lot of resiliency was built into some of those botnets, they were taken down, and poof they disappeared for very long periods of time,” Marcus said. He said he thinks “the bad guys will learn from that and build in some redundancy,” but he remains optimistic. “The good guys and regular users are getting tired of getting exploited and we’re finally starting to see more offensive and aggressive take downs of botnets…we’re starting to see people wanting to take back the Internet.”

Social media is a relatively new phenomenon, but Delicious Digg, StumbleUpon and other social media websites have become an increasingly important source of website traffic. This also creates a massive demand for data related to social media. Where are users coming from? What topics excite them?

These are questions that, when answered, can be the difference between a successful website and a failed social media campaign. But social media analytics is young, and not many people know where to start. This guide is designed for that purpose: to help you get started with some of the best tools and habits so that you can effectively gather and analyze social media analytics.

Understand what you want to track

What is your goal? Do you want to track how people are sharing your website? Do you want to track a specific social media campaign? Or maybe you’re just interested in trends related to a specific meme or social media phenomenon? Each one requires different tools and different focus.

You’re going to focus on traffic statistics if you’re tracking social media website engagement, while if you’re tracking a wider campaign, Twitter response and positive comments might be a more appropriate metric.

Optimize your existing analytics software

Most of us use analytics software like Google Analytics Woopra, or Omniture to track website data like traffic, visitors, pages per visitor, and traffic sources. Most of these analytics tools can track a wealth of data, but they are not designed to track social media data. Luckily, there are a few ways to beef up your analytics software for social media. Some quick tools and suggestions:

Social Media Metrics Plugin: Social Media Metrics is a greasemonkey extension that adds a social media information layer to Google Analytics, providing information on Diggs, stumbles, delicious bookmarks, and more for each individual page. Be aware – it’s not perfect.

Set up specific campaigns and events for social media: Most analytics software has custom campaigns to make it easy to track specific events. You can track a specific Twitter traffic campaign or DiggBar URL with campaigns.

Reorganize dashboards and set up email reports: To get specific information on social media, have traffic stats from top social media websites (i.e. Digg, Facebook, Twitter, etc.) emailed to you so you can see it all in one place. In addition, reorganize any dashboards you have to show this information for easy access.

Add new analytics tools

Even with web analytics tools, you don’t have all the tools necessary to get started tracking analytics related to social media. Why not add some more tools to your inventory that track detailed social metrics? Some suggestions:

Bit.ly: When you use a URL shortener, it’s always a smart idea to use one that has analytics information, like Bit.ly. This will track information like number of clicks, traffic sources, and even at what time clicks occur.

Xinureturns: Despite the funny Scientology-inspired name, xinureturns provides a great dashboard overview of your website’s standing in social media. Run a report and you will receive information on Technorati, Googe Pagerank, Diggs, and even backlinks to your website.

PostRank: Formerly known as AideRSS, PostRank provides detailed information on Tweets, stumbles, diggs, and FriendFeed all in one place. It’s best for blogs and websites with a lot of content.

SocialToo: SocialToo is a comprehensive tool for creating social surveys and tracking social stats. It also will send you a daily email describing follows and unfollows on Twitter.

Aggregate your analytics

There is no single tool that will bring this information together, so you’ll have to do it yourself. Export data into excel, pdf, or email and record all of the information to one area, whichever works best for you. Building a spreadsheet may be best for playing with the numbers. Make it easily accessible.

Analyze and engage

This guide is only how to get started with social media analytics. Take the time to find great tools and to understand how each of the social media levers affects traffic and analytics data. But most of all, use the data to engage your audience. You can figure out what they’re looking for using social media analytics, so be sure to act upon the data once you’ve analyzed it.

Upon my research on the latest info on creating a web 2.0 platform and the business of starting it, I stummbed upon one of the best books out there,Web 2.0: A Strategy Guide by Amy Shuen. I was reluctant to at first after purchasing many books on the topic but don’t go into detail about the process of a startup. After reading the description on Amazon, I wound up ordering it and dove right in.

The author, Amy Shuen has an impressive background and education with a MBA from Harvard Business School and a PhD from Cal Berkeley. One thing that caught my eye was her role in founding the Silicon Valley Strategy Group whch created $100 million strategic venture fund. Having this type of background shows me she knows what it takes to create innovative companies rather than just studying their models in the classroom.

Amy stresses the fact she wants to teach budding entrepreneurs the strategy and philosophy of creatng web 2.0 communities rather than the technology that goes into them. This is the essence of what I need to learn and grasp rather than the coding and design of a web 2.0 application.? Don’t get me wrong, that is an important factor; after all it is the product.? As with any type of business, you need to determine if it is a viable solution to a problem and this is at it’s core, Web 2.0 technology.

As with my web 2.0 idea, people need to figure out if this solution works and there is a place on the overcrowded web 2.0 movement. She explains there is a highly unlikely scenario where someone will create the next Facebook but they can create solutions that compliment it’s functionality. A great example would be Friend Feed. This utility tracks activity and feeds that into Facebook for your friends to see. Great tool, I use it myself. I understood this but my idea revolves around? vertical that isn’t out there and expands on the Facebook and social networking concept.? I realize I’m not reinventing the wheel with my concept but expanding on those ideals that were created by such platforms as Facebook, MySpace, and Friendster. The concept of user generated content which gives users the flexibility and stage to express themselves and connect with others whether it be with people they already know or will soon meet.

Amy uses a few case studies to explain how their platforms engage the visitor and draw others in. She uses Flickr, a popular photo sharing site, acquired by Yahoo in 2005. It details how customers themselves help build the site, as old-fashioned “word of mouth” becomes hypergrowth. The book demonstrates the power of this new paradigm by examining how Flickr, a classic user-driven business, created value for itself by helping users create their own value; the concept of sharing their personal photos with others and using a platform to express their thoughts on various topics.

One of her other case studies that painted a new picture for me on social networking was on LinkedIn. She explains it’s beginning and the notion of the Six Degrees of Separation model.Prior to this concept, I’ve only heard of the “Six degrees of Kevin Bacon” model in college and thought it was just a joke but the orgins of the concept seems very powerful. The notion of using a first connection to “link” to another and opening up that 2nd tier connector’s connections. LinkedIn uses the model that only those who are connected through a 3rd link. This keeps the network relevant to those who only share connections through friendship or business. This concept keeps the community relevant and invites more of a connection. Amy did a great job of explaining how this concept has elevated LinkedIn as a pioneer.

After thinking and understanding this concept and applying it to other platforms like Facebook and Myspace I understood now why Facebook and LinkedIn are wildly popular and Myspace has lost market share. Users are connections with those that have something in common, whether it be through existing friendships or professional reasons. These communities stay very personal and relevant to one user rather than th concept of Myspace ‘which does the opposite and has the user lost in a myriad of profiles and it’s up to them to find others. Another reason Myspace, lost the race is plain and simple: It became to corporate after the acquisition from Fox Media Group. It’s understandable that it’s purely a money machine for Rupert Murdoch but old media doesn’t understand the Web 2.0 movement, it’s about the community and not the platform. Myspace has become overblown with flashing banner ads and poputs, slow load times and page customizations. (I admit, my Myspace page is full of pukey colors). On the other side, Facebook and LinkedIn keep a simple look with suttle, indiscreetly placed ads. This portrays a platforms that connects users rather than selling advertising space. To me, this is a major reason of the hypergrowth of these two platforms.

Amy then goes into businesses like Amazon who tap into the web as a source of indirect revenue, using creative new approaches to monetize the investments they’ve made in the Web. Amazon’s innovative way of helping their competition sell their products through Amazon’s platform and collections fees for every sale. Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon understood that his successful business could indirectly create a new revenue channel through helping his smaller competitors rather than focus on keeping books in stock themselves. I’m sure when he thought of the concept many economists thought he was crazy but whose laughing all the way to the bank?

Anyone thinking of creating new wealth using the Web 2.0 philosophy needs to read this book.? It will open your eyes to existing ideas you have and make you realize there is a better way of existing technologies. You don’t have to be a Harvard MBA or Computer Science PhD from MIT to build a platform but that one idea, if it’s viable, could potentially be the next disruptor in the Web 2.0 front!