Widgets expose company networks to attack
Website add-ons, popularly known as widgets, are exposing corporate networks to an array of threats, according to a Finjan report.
The quarterly study suggests that widgets contain code that is vulnerable to exploits by hackers.
According to Finjan malicious applications allow an attacker to run arbitrary code on an infected machine or access privileged information from a user account.
The company is now calling for a review of current security measures to tackle the problem.
Yuval Ben-Itzhak, chief technology officer at Finjan, said in a statement: "As Widgets become common in most modern computing environments their significance from a security standpoint increases.
"This attack could have a major impact on the industry, immediately exposing corporations to a vast array of new security considerations that need to be dealt with."
Microsoft and Yahoo! have already issued security advisories and patches for vulnerabilities in widgets.
There are 3720 widgets available on Google.com, 3197 on Apple's website and 3959 on the social networking site Facebook, according to Finjan.
Reproduced from an article published by SC Magazine
© SC Magazine
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