Jerson's Pad

Facebook is so popular today because of its built in applications. If you’re a Facebook user I am sure you are familiar with its addictive games, built in messaging system, photo uploading capabilities, video sharing and the list goes on. But are you aware that there are viruses lurking out there for a new victim!

We can all agree as a Facebook user that it has almost all the cool things we could possibly ask for a social website but not including viruses. Social website Viruses can compromise our privacy and sensitive information without knowing. It not just Facebook that is the target of this malicious worms or applications but other social websites as well. Koobface (Anagram for “Facebook”) worm virus which appeared in August 2008 found its way into the Facebook and began causing havoc across the network. It targets the users of the social networking websites Facebook, MySpace, hi5, Bebo, Friendster and Twitter.

“Koobface spreads by delivering Facebook messages to people that are ‘friends’ of someone on Facebook whose computer has already been infected. The messages contain innocuous subject headers such as “Paris Hilton Tosses Dwarf On The Street”, “LOL”, “My friend cached you on hidden cam”, and “My home video ” followed by a link. Upon receipt, the message directs the recipients to a third-party website unaffiliated with Facebook where they are prompted to download what is purported to be an update of the Adobe Flash player. If they download and execute the file, they will infect their computer with Koobface. Koobface then commandeers their surfing activities and directs users to contaminated websites when they attempt to access search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing, and Ask.com. Some search engines, including AOL Search, are not affected by Koobface.” – wikipedia

Now, there is a possibility of virus in the wild: Facebook Fan Check virus. It is a Facebook app which will “infect” the user by becoming a fan but it is not confirmed as of this writing. What it does is flag the user with this message when trying to visiting or using the said app.

“FanCheck is adding new features and new capacity. This could take a few days.
Please become a fan, and we’ll send you an update when we’re back online”

Hoax or not, as a Facebook user we should still be very careful with applications that promises visitor tracking. You can read my previous post about Facebook loggers to know why.

Incoming search terms for the article:

Related posts:

• Facebook Tracker | Facebook Logger
• Facebook indexing user information on Google
• Facebook On Phishing Scam Attack
• How to Hide Facebook Profile or Block Unwanted Facebook User
• How to Restore a Hacked Account on Facebook

Tags: Facebook

This entry posted on Tuesday, September 8th, 2009 at 12:36 am and is filed under Facebook, News.. This article was viewed 411 times. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.