Cisco: Facebook security more important as e-mail spam levels drop

Cisco: Facebook security more important as e-mail spam levels drop

Cisco: Facebook security more important as e-mail spam levels drop
DEMO vendor Websense unveils Facebook security product

By Jon Brodkin, Network World
March 01, 2011 10:35 AM ET

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Spammers are moving on from mass e-mail blasts to targeted attacks using social networking sites like Facebook and LinkedIn, Cisco security executive Tom Gillis said Monday.

"2010 was the first year spam volumes went down," Gillis said during an onstage interview at DEMO Spring 2011. "Does that mean spam is less of a problem? No."

Spammers have found it can be more effective to use Facebook and other social networks to launch attacks targeted at specific companies or people, said Gillis, vice president and general manager of Cisco's security technology business unit and formerly an executive at IronPort Systems before it was purchased by Cisco.