Facebook Worm Attacks On The Rise

[Spike]

[glow=black]The number of Facebook accounts being attacked by internet worms is on the rise, with users reporting that their accounts are being hijacked.[/glow]

The worms get into profiles of unsuspecting users and tap into the information to silently rapid-fire malicious spam messages to the user's friends.
The technique is known as "social engineering" and messages usually mislead the recipient, claiming to feature a web video or blog post. It encourages them to follow the link, which leads them to rogue webpages, exposing them to viruses and worms. Several Facebook users have reported the link to rogue websites.

The most prolific culprit is a worm dubbed "[glow=black]Koobface[/glow]", which first came to light in July. Because messages appear to come from a friend, they often catch people off-guard. Popular websites MySpace and Facebook now have over 100 million users each, and hold a wealth of sensitive data threatened by these attacks.

Facebook acknowledges that its users have been targeted but says the problems are largely under control. Facebook said: "Over the past few days, we have received reports from users of spam and phishing attacks. We have also detected and contained a worm. We are investigating every report, removing false content, blocking bogus links and addressing the concerns of our users. These efforts have limited the affected users to a small percentage of those on Facebook."

In addition, Facebook released a new security feature to deter spam wall posts from spreading across the site - another common threat. The site will now display warnings when a user posts a potentially harmful web address, and scans all suspect links for reported attacks, warning users they may be at risk.

Facebook head of security Max Kelly, a former FBI computer forensics examiner, advised users to be on their guard. In a blog post, he recommended that those affected report suspected threats and keep their passwords safe.