Black Hat: Social Networks Reveal, Betray, Help Users
Information Week – Posting personal information on Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and other popular social networks can be more dangerous than it seems, a security researcher said this week. These networks, however, can also reveal information useful in solving crimes and assisting first responders in emergencies.
Researchers at security conference show how social networks can reveal more than users intend.
Speaking at the Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas, Nitesh Dhanjani, a consultant who helps secure large corporations, showed how social networks could be mined for clues to people’s behavior.
He demonstrated how software programs could be created, sometimes using tools provided by the social networks themselves, to figure out the location of politicians who use Twitter or piece together social connections on LinkedIn or determine someone’s state of mind by the frequency and type of words he or she uses.
He also reviewed how social networking sites can be misused by bad actors to try to influence public opinion, which happened last year during the coordinated bombing attacks on Mumbai. False posts were created on Twitter to try to disrupt rescue efforts, Dhanjani said.
Social networks have become regular targets of criticism at Black Hat…
![[Post to Twitter]](http://www.socialnetdaily.com/wp-content/plugins/tweet-this/icons/tt-twitter-big4.png){kind=icon}
