Spam and Other Malware on Blogs and Social Networks
Advertisers understand the value of blogs. Legitimate advertisers pay to
have their ads posted on the sites; disreputable advertisers often create
fake user profiles and blog sites for their marketing campaigns. These
run the gamut of legal to entirely illegal offers. These fake blog sites are
called splogs(splogis short for spam blog), and they can be an annoying
and potentially harmful form of spam.Some splog ads appear as comments that get spammed onto social net-
working sites. These typically include links to sites that may place mal-
ware on your computer, or they may contain content that’s offensive to
you. This is a good reason for you to make settings to your blog so that
you can review and approve comments before they are posted, if such
settings are available. See Chapter 5 for more about spam and Chapter
15 for more about malware and how to protect your computer from it.Understand Site Privacy Settings
Permission settings determine who has access to your and your family’s
information. These settings typically include the following:➟ Public:This setting allows every Internet user (more
than two billion people) to see your information.➟ Friends of friends:Allows your friends and their
friends to see your information. (See Figure 8-8for
an example of how many people this might involve.)
Remember that the friend of a friend is likely to be a
stranger, so this setting is often the one that exposes
people the most. You may feel safe because visitors
are “friends,” but in reality, this setting can result in
thousands of people viewing the information.➟ Friends only:Selecting this setting means only the
people in your friends or buddies list can see all your
information.174
Part II: Using the Internet While Dodging the Risk