The war on spam using social networking tools

Last August, the micro-blogging service Twitter noted that the number of spam messages received by its subscribers was close to 11% of the total volume of daily exchanges. Seeing that this number could only increase, Twitter went to war against spam. Over the past eight months, Twitter’s security managers have put in place methods to counter these unwanted mails. The latter were vague about the methods they used. But it’s been a great success, with spam now accounting for just 1% of daily traffic. Twitter urges users of its service to remain vigilant with regard to unwanted e-mails, inviting them to report any link that seems dubious.

Twitter has identified several types of spam. First, there are harmful links, including links to malicious sites or programs. With the @ function, a number of unwanted messages have been sent to subscribers. It also has duplicate updates. If users receive two update notices in a single day, they should inform Twitter and assume that the second update is a spammer. The other way to fall victim to the site is to be followed, not by a legal Twitter user, but by spam robots. Some subscribers report the problem and advise you to switch your Twitter feed to private mode. This reduces visibility but limits spam.

Twitter has some advice for these users to limit the number of hacks. The advice given is to report spam. To achieve this, Twitter relies on the collaboration of its users, allowing them to report suspicious links. What’s more, Twitter has a system of rules allowing accounts to be suspended if they behave in a prejudicial way. A user account can be suspended.

Twitter isn’t just about spam. It also aims to eradicate phishing with a new service for its users. The service would analyze every link sent to Twitter, using a system of filters to highlight malicious links.