Social media users should not let their guards down, especially when malicious software continues to spread and attack via social media tools and networks. Recently, security firm Sophos warned Facebook users about a malicious software that disguises as a Facebook photo tag alert.

In a Naked Security blog post, Sophos’ senior technology consultant Graham Cluley stated that the security firmware intercepted a “spammed-out email campaign” that is designed to infect recipient’s computer with malware tied to the infamous Blackhole exploit kit.

What Happens When I Click the Link?

Be extra cautious (and suspicious) of emails claiming to be from Facebook, saying you’ve been tagged. Once you click the link that supposedly directs you to the photo, you’re instead taken to a website that hosts a “malicious iFrame script” that runs the Blackhole exploit kit. Blackhole essentially opens a back door for more malware, putting your PC at a greater risk.

What makes the campaign even cleverer and trickier is that within four seconds, you’re suddenly redirected to a legitimate Facebook page of a “presumably entirely innocent individual” to act as a smokescreen. Because of this clever trick, you won’t be skeptical that something just went terribly wrong, when in fact you’ve just been malware attacked.

How Can I Tell If the Email is Fake?

Observe an example of what a typical email looks like:

Did you notice the phish-y part about it? Look closely at the “From” field of the email. Gotcha! It misspells “Facebook” with an extra “o.” Pretty sneaky, right? But Cluley further hinted:

Even if you didn’t notice that “Faceboook” was spelt incorrectly, you could have seen by hovering your mouse over the link that it wasn’t going to take you directly to the genuine Facebook website.

Cluley also advised users to keep “your wits about you” when online.

If you don’t take the right steps to protect your computer, one day a cybercriminal might find the right social engineering trick to dupe you into making a bad decision or visit a dangerous website.

SophosLabs is adding detection of the malware as Troj/JSRedir-HW and still investigating this attack.

Cyberattacks running rampant through the social networks is nothing new. That’s why it pays to do a spell-check before you click, because you never know when you’ve just been phished.

 

Image Sources: Computer Bugs Courtesy of Mike Vadala via Flickr and Fake Email via http://nakedsecurity.sophos.com

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Before starting your online marketing campaign, it would be ideal to have a blog so that you can generate content. Other than providing you a big room to come up with a post, this is also a good starting point for a conversation. With regards to keeping the communication mill churning for your content, there are three communication categories that you need to know.

Creators

You cannot have a starting point in any of your online marketing campaign, unless you create something. You have to provide a content that will compel other people to share it or talk about it. Furthermore, creating content can help you establish your credibility and expertise on the subject matter that you want to cover.

Curators

According to Jamie Beckland, curation is “the act of synthesizing and interpreting in order to present a complete record of concept.” In order to have a successful curation strategy, you have to subscribe to a lot of related content provider. You can use online tools like Google Reader. This will enable you to provide insightful commentary, while sharing it to your followers. It will help them gauge the value of the links that you share, as well as determine how much you know about your niche.

Social Media Platforms

Starting with social networking sites may less likely give you rewards, this is a helpful tool if you want to add personal touch with the content that you share. Other than curation, you can share your content through this platform, while letting you make it more human and interesting. When you’re using Twitter, remember to leave about 20 characters free so that your followers can retweet it without having to edit your tweet.

Sharing Your Content with Style

Social media marketing is more than just creating content and sharing it through networking platforms. You also need to know and define your style when interacting with your audience. You need to establish a voice that will establish how much you know about your brand’s industry. Furthermore, your marketing style will help you attract the right audience for your business.

That’s why it is important that you have to distinguish your social media marketing style. You can emulate whatever you think is working for other businesses in your industry. See how other brands approach their audience and how they share their content. Find out what kind of style works for you and your business most and start with. You cannot be a copycat forever, that’s why it’s also important you have to know what comes naturally to you and work it to your advantage.

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Although it looks old school, Email marketing can still become a helpful tool when it comes to Internet marketing. It’s important that you have an email service provider because it can help you manage your contact, especially when your customer base is starting to grow. Having an ESP also means that you’re in for some serious marketing.

On the other hand, selecting which ESP would fit your business needs can be daunting. That’s because there are tons of services to choose from.

Private IP Address

An IP address defines your email’s origin. If you know that sharing your home address to a stranger is a no-no, you wouldn’t want to share your IP address to your subscribers to prevent being blacklisted. That’s why it’s important that your ESP provides a private IP Address.

Reliable Infrastructure and Customer Support

Having a high-speed and multiple connection is also important when choosing what ESP is right for you. This will secure that even their servers won’t go down even if one of their Internet connections fail. Thus, allowing your subscribers to click through. But when worse comes to worst, your ESP should offer both online and phone customer support.

A/B Testing and Reports

The same with any online marketing elements, you have to test multiple versions of your email. This is in order to see which message works for your audience. In relation to this, your ESP should offer a wide array of user-friendly reports such as deliverability success, open rates, and click-through rates. That way, you’ll know where your email marketing is leading you.

CAN SPAM Compliance

Requiring your subscribers to comply with the CAN SPAM Act is important with your email marketing campaign. However, you cannot encourage them to do so if you won’t make it sweet and simple for them.

List Segmenting

You should also consider whether your ESP allows list segmentation based on various criteria like demographic. Being able to target subsets of your list will help you deliver relevant content that makes your email marketing campaign more successful.

Terms and Pricing

Whatever your email marketing needs is, it’s also important that your ESP allows you to cancel and switch any services at will—especially when you think that you’re no longer happy with the service. Most of all, you have to look for a provider that has a flexible payment terms based on your needs.

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