Cyber Criminals Use Shortened URL's to Spread Spam

Cyber Criminals Use Shortened URL's to Spread Spam

A report from MessageLabs revealed that spammers are now using shortened URLs to proliferate spam messages on popular websites such asTwitter. 
 

Shortened URL replaces a destination web address with a shorter version.  A short URL obscures the original address, which at times redirect web users to different sites. Users don't have any idea where the shortened URLs take them, thus making it easier for hackers to lead them to malicious websites.

 

MessagLabs Intelligence analysts said that a significant increase in spam messages containing shortened URLs has been seen at the end of June. This accounted to 2.2 percent of all the spam spread around the web.

 

MessageLabs analyst Paul Wood said, "There are a huge number of these services, and they don't always require a Captcha or to register an account to use."

 

"They are driving people to spam sites at the moment. But one of the dangers is that, if it does become malicious, it will be much harder to recognise [the malicious sites] because you don't know where you're going until you get there.," Woods added.