Latest Facebook Scare: The Cure May Be Worse Than The Disease
It's seems like every virus produces a list of capitalistic charlatans. During the Bubonic plague, thousands spent their hard earned savings on worthless talismans in the hopes of avoiding the Black Death. The song "Ring Around the Rosy" even documents the myth that a "pocket full of posies" could ward off the disease. Today's modern day talisman comes in the form of a fake anti-virus software. According to John Leyden's recent Register article, fake software is being peddled to users who believe their systems are infected with the Facebook Fan Check Virus.
It's unclear as to whether or not the Facebook Fan Check Virus actually exists. It's entirely possible that concerned forum members are simply laying the bait for malware scams. Only one thing is certain, sites claiming to protect against the virus are being used to trick users into offering up their credit card information.
Says Sophos' Senior Technology Consultant Graham Cluely in a blog post, "The bogus warnings look near identical to previous fake anti-virus software attacks that we have seen in the past - with a scrolling green progress bar and a list of alleged threats found on your computer displayed in a dramatic red colour scrolling up."
Phishers are designing site pop ups that mimic system anti-virus warnings in order to lure users into giving up personal information and in some cases, downloading malware. According to the Anti-Phishing Working Group more than 9000 scareware packages have been in circulation since late 2008.
For a list of some of these potential issues, check out ReadWriteWeb's Top Online Security Threats for 2009 or visit the US Computer Emergency Readiness Team site for industry updates.
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I can’t resist reading celebrity gossip using facebook. If you don't have something better to do, you could always keep up with celebrity gossip – like this whole thing over whether Tyra Banks is engaged or not. Tyra Banks herself denied it – she isn't engaged to boyfriend John Utendahl, and on her Twitter page declared that the ring she wears is her high school graduation ring. (Some are surprised she's graduated high school.) So now that the discussion is over – go out and do something. Take in a movie. Learn a new skill. Who knows – maybe even meet some new people. Possibly even a member of the opposite sex. Stop caring about Tyra Banks and find some money to lend yourself for your own fun.
It seems that many profile accounts are being hacked. I can't go a month without a facebook message from one of my friends that says "funny pic of you click here and some random spam link." Great post.
If you aren't careful, you will be hacked of your personal information. If you are not sure of the link you are clicking, don't try. It maybe is a bait to get your credit card info.
It may come with experience but basically if you have a form of anti-virus software installed and you update virus definitions etc - then the mimic system anti-virus warnings should not be a issue - ie if avg is your anti - virus software - then why respond to any other alleged mimic systems anti-virus warnings especially when avg is not giving the warning. Trust the anti virus software that you have - they are usually one step ahead.
This is a great post adding the video is very effective. I would never trust Google for any virus searches, that is like asking for trouble.
I received an invitation reminder from my bff addressed to someone else. I thought that perhaps she intended to send the invite to someone else but typed my email by mistake (since of course we are already face book friends). Is this another scam that is going around? I can't find anything about it on the web.
Been assisting a friend with this issue over instant messenger this morning although wasn't able to identify until reading this post. Good catch and thanks for providing the details!
Without a doubt the biggest threat out their for virus delivery is via fake AV. New users especially are almost always going to fall for system messages that tell you you need to -immediately- install an antivirus program - that will ultimately end up infecting you.