Administrators should consider restricting access to sites such as YouTube and MySpace because they have the potential to deliver malware that has been embedded inside video files.
Over the past year, a number of serious vulnerabilities have been discovered in the most popular video players. This has coincided with sites such as YouTube, which was recently acquired by Google for US$1.65 billion, becoming increasingly popular. This is a lethal combination, according to security companies.
Both YouTube and MySpace allow their members to upload video files onto a personal homepage, which can then be shared with the general Internet population.
Patrick Peterson, vice president of technology at security firm IronPort Systems, said that unlike more traditional attacks -- where malicious files are attached, or linked to, from spam e-mail messages -- potentially dangerous media files are being passed around by friends and colleagues
Because the files are from a trusted source, users are more likely to view them. "[The bad guys] can rely on people going to YouTube and rely on people telling their friends to go to MySpace to get that infection.
View: Full Article @ ZDNet Australia
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