Koobface In Your Facebook: Be Warned!
If spammers , hackers and virus-spreaders would simply just magically vanish into thin air one morning, we are pretty sure that we will not be the only happy campers. But until that happens, our best bet is to simply do everything we can to protect ourselves. It is bad enough that we have to be extra careful about catching a physical virus and falling sick; now we have our virtual selves to worry about as well.
Facebook may have won a bout against self-proclaimed “Spam King” Sanford Wallace, but there are still other misfits to deal with. Last week, talks in the tech world were mostly about a “new smart worm” that may be wriggling its way into your Facebook wall. This sure makes us miss the days when “spam” only referred to a certain canned meat product.
Attackers (who, in our opinion, are seriously in need of something better to do) have released a “more intelligent” version of the Koobface virus, according to security analysts. And anyone can actually find one’s self as the latest “victim”.
An organization that calls itself “Control Your Info” reportedly got hold of up to three hundred Facebook groups over the past few days or so. The “Control Your Info” web site reportedly indicates the group’s mission — to expose security holes in social media.
In its original state, Koobface took over a user’s PC and proceeded to send messages and post messages on the walls of the infected user’s friends. These messages include links that are seriously tempting to click, and when the user’s friends do that, they in turn will get infected by the virus.
In its current mutated state, Koobface reportedly no longer needs the aid of a real user to follow bogus links – the process has become automated. Botnets are reportedly registering new Facebook accounts and use these accounts to join groups and add friends – and then post links on people’s walls.
So how do you stay protected? Keep one’s anti-virus software up to date, and be careful about clicking on links – even if these links appear to have been posted by someone you know.
We do hope, though, that someone finds something more productive for these hackers to do – and soon!
Tags: facebook attack, facebook control your info, facebook dangers, facebook virus, facebook wormRelated posts
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