Spammers already targeting Google Buzz

Computerworld - Well, it certainly didn't take long.

Spammers began targeting Google Buzz just days after it was launched, according to security company Websense, Inc.

The security company issued an alert on Google Buzz late last week noting that the first spam attack, which was about smoking, hit the new social networking hub last Thursday.

Websense noted that its analysts expected spam messages to pop up on Google Buzz, just not so soon.

"When Twitter was launched, it took a while before it was used to send spam and other malicious messages," Websense said in its alert. "In this case, it only took two days. It's clear that the bad guys have learned from their experience using social networks to distribute these type of messages."

Last week, Google added social networking tools to its Gmail e-mail service. Google Buzz is designed to help users more easily and quickly find the most important information contained in their flood of social posts, pictures and videos.

Last Friday, Google rolled out several tweaks to Buzz in an attempt to address privacy concerns. Then over the weekend, Google said that over the next several weeks it will offer up more tweaks to deal with privacy issues.

Sharon Gaudin covers the Internet and Web 2.0, emerging technologies, and desktop and laptop chips for Computerworld. Follow Sharon on Twitter at @sgaudin, send e-mail to sgaudin@computerworld.com or subscribe to Sharon's RSS feed .

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