BitDefender experiment: 97 percent of 2,000 people followed carelessly contaminated short URLs Holzwickede, December 13, 2010 the curiosity of the user about the security idea WINS? This wondered virus protection expert BitDefender (www.bitdefender.de) and tested in the course of an experiment, like social media users with condensed links (short URLs) bypass. It posted the security specialist about the a gefakten Twitter and Facebook account short links, which would have led users to malware-infested Web pages. BitDefender had done before but harmless links, not to endanger the user. At the same time, the users were asked to report dead links. An explosive result came about on the basis of notifications: 97% were thoughtlessly followed the manipulated links from approximately 2,000 users and had become infected with dangerous malware normally. For the four-week experiment, BitDefender on the social put media platforms Twitter and Facebook the fake profile of a 30-year employee of the advertising industry. Within three weeks the fictitious person built a circle of total 1,928 users. She posted three daily secure links to news from the field of security, show business, scientific knowledge, as well as accidents. “In addition, solicitation accompanied the posting: If the link does not work, inform please me, so that I can use another tool to link shortening.” Malicious links in the fourth week of the experiment were the user test BitDefender hired URLs on the fake profiles of short, which would actually lead to malware-infested sites. So that the user at any time were at risk, the links were changed so that they could not work. Still, the alleged owner of the account asked for notification, if the reference was not broken. On the basis of the received feedback left be read off that 97% of all users were followed the actually dangerous links. Thus, more than 1,800 users had infected their computers with malicious software, provided that the URLs were correct. Short URLs can lead to malicious Web pages especially for the microblogging service Twitter, shortened links are common, since they require fewer characters. The use of short URLs represents a significant disadvantage in terms of data protection”, warns Sabrina Datcu, BitDefender E-threat analyst and author of the experiment. The user don’t know what’s behind the link, because the name of the URL is very cryptic. Therefore this type of link that can be abused, to guide pages unsuspecting users to malware, phishing, or spam-spreading.” The members of Facebook certainly can participate in the social network, BitDefender has developed the free tool safego, which protects against malware and spam the user accounts. In the meantime, more than 14,000 user use the analysis tool. “” The usage of the application is worth: so far, has safego more than 20 million checks links and about 20 percent of users at least one infected link on their Bulletin Board “or the wall” her friends discovered. More Information about this experiment under. The BitDefender security app safego is available under apps.facebook.com/bd-safego/ and site/products/showSolutions/6 / free to download available. About BitDefender BitDefender is software developer, one of the industry’s fastest and most efficient product lines internationally certified security software. Since the founding of the company in 2001, BitDefender has set new standards in the field of proactive protection against threats from the Internet. Every day, BitDefender protects tens of millions of private and business customers around the world and gives them the good feeling that your digital life is safe. BitDefender sells its security solutions in more than 100 countries through a global VAD and reseller network. More detailed information about BitDefender and BitDefender products are available in the press centre online. In addition, BitDefender provides background information and current news in English at in the daily fight against threats from the Internet. Press contact: BitDefender GmbH Robert-Bosch-str. 2 D-59439 Holzwickede contact person: Hans-Peter Lange PR Manager Tel.: + 49 (0) 2301 9184-330 fax: + 49 (0) 2301 9184-499 email: PR Agency: Sprengel & Partner GmbH nesting first race 3 D-56472 Nisterau contact: Fabian Sprengel Tel.: + 49 (0) 2661 91260-0 E-Mail: