Viruses and worms are rampant on the web. Until only recently this has been a big problem on your PC. Surely, you wouldn’t think of running your computer without an anti-virus solution, but what about the viruses and worms spreading throughout the social networks you belong to? While they may not directly affect your computer, they can cause just as much damage, including: identity theft, stealing of your private and financial information, takeover of your accounts, and embarrassing situations!
Just today, in fact, a worm is propagating through Twitter direct messages (DMs) trying to trick unsuspecting members into thinking it’s a legitimate message from a friend. Today, we have a solution for that at SocialToo, and we are launching automatic anti-virus solutions for Twitter and other social networks.
Starting now, as part of a new premium service we’re offering, anyone who goes to SocialToo and checks the “Send SocialToo DM e-mails” box will no longer receive malicious DMs we detect as rampant on Twitter, as we will be stopping them at their source. We’re taking a proactive approach to this now, and all our users will not receive those DMs we’ve confirmed are malicious. For instance, the “hey. i make $300-500 a day online. this website showed me how” DMs that have been flooding the network over the last few days will automatically be deleted from your Twitter DM box and reported to Twitter’s @spam account on your behalf. Also, the “rofl, this you on here?” DMs will never show up.
As your companion for the Social Web, one of our main roles is to protect you from getting conned or tricked into clicking on a malicious link and having your account compromised as well.
Here’s what you need to do for it to be most effective:
- Click “Sign in With Twitter” on SocialToo.com. Click on the Preferences tab and check the box “Send SocialToo DM e-mails”. Be sure your e-mail address is entered and click “Submit” at the bottom. It’s now enabled for your account!
- Go to the “Settings” link in the upper-right hand corner of Twitter. Click on the “Notices” tab, and uncheck the “Direct Text E-mails” option. You don’t need this any more because we’ll replace that e-mail with more useful DM e-mails.
- Go to your Devices tab and turn off device notifications – again, the SocialToo e-mails will replace this – and we’re also working on some better mobile solutions to replace this functionality.
Once you have done all of the above, SocialToo will now be responsible for notifying you of new DMs. We will not forward those that have known spam or worms or viruses in them, and you will only get the good DMs.
This new automatic virus detection is free until November 1st for all SocialToo users. We are still working out the details on the new plan, and we will notify each user that has signed up so you can make the choice at that point if you want to continue with the service. This includes our existing auto-dm and spam service subscribers – again, it’s 100% free until November 1st.
We will need input from our users as you see malicious DMs. Please be sure to add them to your spam keywords as you see them, and we’ll be tracking trends through those keywords. Also, if you feel it’s of particular importance please let us know by DMing @socialtoo on Twitter or e-mailing us at contact@socialtoo.com. We’re hoping to make this smarter and smarter as we move forward, and you can expect to see much more from us in the future.
Lastly, if you’re a developer and would like access to any of this information, we do have an API. Contact us to find details. I’d love to work with you to integrate this same spam and virus protection into your own Twitter clients.
It’s time we put an end to worms and viruses on Twitter. You wouldn’t want to be on a PC without anti-virus protection. Why would you be on Twitter without SocialToo?
Consider SocialToo your vaccine for the Social Web.
Tags: anti-spam, anti-virus, social network anti-virus, social networks, social web, twitter, vaccine, virus
I have had relentless spam DM's sent to me recently from Twitter since registration a month ago – only genuine people being able to DM me will be great.
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Barnaby, be sure to sign up for the DM e-mails and use those to replace how
you're currently getting DMs. Then be sure to report any spammers that come
in place, and add new keywords as you see repeat offenders. The more people
that do this, the more effective it will be. Also, we'll be watching behind
the scenes and for those that are malicious we'll definitely be removing
them before you ever see them.
Done. Somehow I feel like using Twitter again!! Great app.
If I see or hear of any keywords or anybody who is malicious or even mostly harmless, I will be sure to forward their Twitter ID's over asap.
Love the SocialToo site btw.
Thanks Barnaby! If we can make it any better for you please let me know.
This looks like a great service. I have other Twitter management services, but the ability to filter out DM's and only get the ones that are true direct messages to me is a godsend. Up until now, I had given up on ever using DM's for communication; reverting to @reply which, of course, goes to everyone. So in addition to filtering out harmful and phishing DM's, the use of the filter will get my inbox down to a managable size again.
I'm glad we could help, Mike!
[...] SocialToo Launches Anti-Virus Solution for Twitter – SocialToo [...]
[...] You can take advantage of this service for free until November 1st as they’re still working out the details of the new premium service. (via SocialToo Blog) [...]
Your anti-malware filter for Twiiter is an idea of genius! My only question is why on earth didn't Twitter come out with this feature first? That is crazy.
Thanks! I think Twitter will always have bigger fish to fry – which is why
a service like ours can always attack it faster than they will. Twitter's
not an anti-virus company. I think we can be that.
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