Twitter Haven for Malware and Protection

Up to 500 web addresses posted on Twitter lead to sites with malware, according to the results from a tool created by Kaspersky Labs, a leading anti-virus vendor. This should come as no surprise, since it's common knowledge that social networking sites, Twitter aside, can be havens for malware, malicious links and other sorts of hacker mischief.

The tool, called Krawler, picks out about 500,000 URLs from Tweets daily and has examined about 30 million since its initial deployment in August.

Users need to be careful and wary with all social networking sites, but here are eight great tips from ReadWriteWeb on protecting yourself from malware on Twitter specifically:

1. Don't assume a link is "safe" because it's from a friend.
2. Don't assume Twitter links are safe because Twitter is now scanning for malware.
3. Don't Assume Bit.ly Links are Safe.
4. Use an up-to-date web browserKeep Windows up-to-date.
5. Keep Adobe Reader and Adobe Flash up-to-date.
6. Don't assume you're safe because you use a Mac.
7. Be wary of email messages from social networks