On my site The Social Graph of Malware, I try to present current information (with appropriate background) on malware and attack vectors that use social engineering as a part of their methodology.

Last week I read somewhere (I know not where) about the potential for URL-shortening sites pointing you at sites containing malware. It’s pretty simple – imagine that someone posing as your friend twitters you and there’s one of these shortened URLs inside the message … but that this shortened URL points you at a site containing an embedded virus rather than at a site that you would want to actually visit. Your actual or supposed friend might not even know the site is poisoned. How can you protect yourself against this? Read this page at The Social Graph of Malware for more details. (I promise you there are no shortened URLs in the article.)