MySpace
Security companies have already found vulnerabilities in MySpace

Month-of-bugs project targets MySpace

Tongue-in-cheek campaign finds flaws in social networking site

Shaun Nichols in California

Social networking site MySpace has become the latest company targeted by a 'month of bugs' project. 

The project, run by security researchers using the aliases 'Mondo Armando' and 'Müstachio', is officially known as Month of MySpace Bugs, Yuss!, or Momby for short. 

Advertisement

Previous 'month of bugs' projects have targeted everything from Mac OS X to PHP

As the name suggests, the projects aim to disclose a new vulnerability every day for a month. This latest effort, however, takes as many swipes at other month of bugs projects as the target itself.

"Months of Bugs are annoying, so rather than suffering through another, we figured it'd be better to just create our own where we could at least direct the content a little," said 'Mondo Armando' in the 'official announcement' of the project.

The pair decided on targeting MySpace for a variety or reasons, including its substantial user base.

"Months of Bugs are whiny, attention-seeking ploys for acceptance. MySpace's design use is to enable whiny, attention-seeking ploys for acceptance," said the researchers.

The project will take place during April and will be run from a special LiveJournal blog, or at an alternative site should the account be revoked by LiveJournal owner Six Apart.

"Most of what we intend to publish are silly XSS/misleading CSS style bugs that MySpace users may actually be able to use for a little while, and that involve only MySpace.com stuff," wrote Armando.

The pair are also asking fellow researchers to contribute their own bugs to Momby, requesting details and working proof-of-concept samples.

'Mondo Armando' and 'Müstachio' may not need to search too hard for content in the first few days. F-Secure and Sunbelt Software alerted users on Monday to a pair of security hazards currently doing the rounds on MySpace. 

One bug, according to F-Secure, uses a QuickTime vulnerability to steal user information. The other uses fake MySpace profile pages to trick users into downloading adware programs disguised as video plug-ins, according to Sunbelt.

  • Have your say
  • Send to a friend
  • Print
  • Digg
  • Reddit
  • Share

Tags:

Do you agree?

Further reading

Apple security

Apple releases 'highly critical' QuickTime patch

Fix available for remote-code exploit released New Year's Day

Apple security flaw

New Mac OS X exploit disclosed

Auto-launch feature in Safari leaves door open for attack

MySpace launches £1m movie competition

Cash prize for world's first user-generated feature film

Paris Hilton thrashed by MySpace

'MySpace' continues to dominate online searches, but Hilton coming from behind

Related whitepapers

Related jobs

Most watched

iPhone

Video Review: iPhone 3GS

We put Apple's latest iPhone through its paces

Xperia X1

Video Review: Sony Ericsson Xperia X1

First Looks Editor Ian Williams gets hands on with the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1

IT white papers

Search white papers

Top categories

Poll

Poll: Summer smartphones

Poll: Summer smartphones

Which smartphone will you be taking to the beach this summer?

View poll results

Advertisement

Advertisement

Newsletter signup

Sign up for our range of FREE newsletters:

Existing User

Newsletter user login:

Enter email address to edit your newsletter preferences

Job of the week

Search thousands of IT jobs :

Search thousands of IT jobs:

Advanced search

Hiring now on ComputingCareers:

Related IT jobs

Search thousands of IT jobs :

Search thousands of IT jobs:

Advanced search

Spotlight

a padlock

Microsoft to plug security holes

Microsoft has given advance warning of a number of security...

Nokia handset

Top 10 articles, 10 July 09

No Nokia Android phone, ActiveX attacks and Google enters into...

Can Google beat Microsoft at its own game?

Google's announcement this week that it plans to step into...

iPhone

Video Review: iPhone 3GS

We put Apple's latest iPhone through its paces

Primary Navigation