Barracuda Networks Inc., a leading provider of security, storage and networking solutions, today released its Barracuda Labs 2009 Annual Report, revealing data from three areas: Twitter trends and tracking, Web threats and trends, and email spam and viruses.
One in eight accounts created was deemed to be malicious
“As more users joined Twitter in 2009, the Twitter Crime Rate continued to escalate reaching 12 percent in October 2009. This means that one in eight accounts created was deemed to be malicious, suspicious or otherwise misused and was subsequently suspended – clearly showing that the criminals do, in fact, follow the users online.”
The report is available at the company’s newly launched security research portal at barracudalabs.com.
The report drills down into 2009’s fastest growing social networking application Twitter, and reviews growth drivers, usage trends and the overall Twitter crime rate.
Barracuda Labs analyzed more than 19 million Twitter accounts, both legitimate and malicious, for frequency and content of tweets, user-to-user interactions, and each account’s overall activity level.
Key highlights from Twitter’s Red Carpet Era – Celebrities and Criminals include:
Only 21 percent of Twitter users are actual True Twitter Users[1].
Overall, users are becoming more active on Twitter.
49 percent of Twitter users, and 48 of the top 100 most followed Twitter users, joined during the Twitter Red Carpet Era[2], indicating the significant impact celebrities have on the social networking landscape as they bring their real-world fans over to Twitter.
The Twitter growth rate spiked at 21.17 percent in April 2009 due to the Twitter Red Carpet Era.
During the Twitter Red Carpet Era, the Twitter Crime Rate[3] increased 66 percent, and continued to escalate reaching 12 percent in October 2009, indicating one in eight accounts created was deemed to be malicious, suspicious or otherwise misused and subsequently suspended.
