The hidden flaws in Web 2.0
A dark side to the shiny new world of Web 2.0 is being exposed by virus writers and the internet security companies that counter them.
The linked-up, sharing, live-updating melting pot of web technologies that has been dubbed the second version of the web is proving fertile ground for infiltrators seeking to inject malicious code into the mix.
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While Microsoft was once the prime target, with vulnerabilities exploited in its word-processing application, browser and operating system, Google, Yahoo and MySpace are now as likely to be hit by attacks as the focus moves from computer desktop applications to web-driven ones.
In Web 2.0, the action is inside the browser. Google users, for example, can fill out spreadsheets, do word processing and see their calendars and e-mail inboxes being updated in the same manner as when they use Microsoft’s hard disk-based Office suite of programs.
The difference is the in-formation is being embedded in web pages delivered from Google’s servers to the user’s browser, most commonly Internet Explorer or Firefox.
Web 2.0 also stands for the social software of wikis, blogs, really simple syndication (RSS) news feeds, tagging and community sites. It is a permissive society where users borrow, append and mix their data freely with one another.
However, while the technology and tools may bring new freedoms, they also represent virgin territory for virus writers and identity thieves.
Part of Web 2.0’s appeal to the developers of “malware”
