Just in time for the celebration of the New Year, McAfee unmasked the threats that will potentially attack shortened URL services and Internet TV platforms. The 2011 Threat Predictions was a product of extensive research that McAfee conducted to come up with a potent list and educate the public. Google’s Android, Apple’s iPhone, Foursquare, Google TV and the Mac OS X platform became chief targets of cybercriminals in 2010 are most likely to be the same for 2011. Furthermore, the leading computer security company also foretells that politically motivated attacks will gear up to assail. This is in anticipation of the WikiLeaks paradigm emulation.

Vincent Weafer, senior VP of McAfee Labs narrated how they see the vulnerability of these platforms. He said, “We’ve seen significant advancements in device and social network adoption, placing a bulls-eye on the platforms and services users are embracing the most. These platforms and services have become very popular in a short amount of time, and we’re already seeing a significant increase in vulnerabilities, attacks and data loss.”

These cybercriminals are expected to batter the online sphere of the shortened URL services and Internet TV platforms. Topping McAfee’s list we see no less than the social networking sites Facebook and Twitter. The susceptibility of these sites will be most riddled by the culprits and URL shortening will be at the vanguard. Abbreviated URLs that can be posted in various social networks can easily mask malicious and pornographic sites, scams, and spam.

Social media will definitely be exploited. Geolocation services like Foursquare, Gowalla, and Facebook Places could also be a potent marsh for cyber offenders to thrive in. These sites can easily track your whereabouts; thereby giving other people (even the wrongdoers) an idea on where you are real-time. And you do not have any idea how massive the blows can be to you with the use of your personal information.

According to the same report, mobile phones will also be the subject of attacks. The rising demand and usage delight the criminals—this means they will have more victims. The so-called “jailbreaking” in iPhone and the emergence of Zeus are the primary predicaments of the mobile industry in 2010. The widespread adoption of mobile services will place user and corporate data at very high risk—and also put security companies on their toes. A certain amount of mobile and personal security is still going to come down to user education such as reading up on security tips for smartphones and mobile devices and learning to identify and observe scams (especially during shopping holidays.)

Curiously, spam has been down this past December, but that’s probably not going to always be the case—the total volume of spam, phishing, and other scams fluxuates according to the availability of server farms and bandwidth.

MacOS platform, unscathed by malicious perpetrators is also being warned as the opponents are becoming better equipped and sophisticated these days. The surge in popularity of iPhone and iPads will surely open the system to possible Apple botnets and trojan stabbing. Android phones already have to concern themselves with the rising threat of sophisticated trojans, so we definitely have quite a year ahead of us.