String of Malware Assaults Facebook Users

Over the weekend, two different malware attacks struck Facebook users, using fake jokes and malware infected videos to assail victims.

Fake video links were posted to Facebook pages with titles like “distracting beach babes,” which appeared to come from the target’s list of friends. The post included a thumbnail picture of a woman wearing a bikini, according to Sophos researchers.

The picture links to a page that attempts to…

Russian Hacker Selling 1.5 Million Facebook IDs

A Russian hacker who calls himself Kirllos is offering to sell stolen usernames and passwords to 1.5 million Facebook accounts for prices varying from $25 to $45 per 1,000 accounts, according to PCWorld.

Researchers at VeriSign’s iDefense recently discovered Kirllos trying to sell Facebook usernames and passwords in an underground hacker forum. If Kirllos’s accounts are legitimate, he has the account information of about one in every 300 Facebook users.

VeriSign…

Mom Accused of Hacking Son’s Facebook Charged with Harassment

An Arkansas mother who allegedly hacked into her 16-year-old son’s Facebook account, changed his password, and posted comments in his name has been charged with harassment.

After Denise New read on Facebook how her son had driven 95 mph after getting upset with a girl, she had enough. One day when her son forgot to log out from his Facebook account, she sat down at the computer, wrote several posts…

Anti-Virus for Facebook? Be Careful, It’s a Trap

Researchers at F-Secure have found an interesting new attempt by scammers to infiltrate Facebook. The scammers utilize a fake anti-virus that tags 20 “Friends” in a picture containing the anti-virus software. If another user clicks the link, it provides a warning saying “Allowing Antivirus in Focebook access will let it pull your profile information, photos, your friend’s info, and other content that it requires to work.”

Facebook is currently working…

Beward of Fake Email Facebook Warns

Social networking giant Facebook has issued a warning to users regarding a new scam that tricks users into downloading a Trojan onto their computers. The Trojan enables the cyber criminal to steal a user’s password for the social networking site.

Once that occurs, the cyber criminal is able to use the compromised account to launch spam attacks against other users. Also, the criminal can steal login credentials for other websites,…

Facebook Leak Kills Military Operation

Military officials in Israel called off a planned raid on a village in the West Bank after details of the raid were posted on Facebook. The details were posted by a combat solder and included the time and location of the raid.  The solider was subjected to court martial and sentenced to ten days in jail.

This incident raises flags about information sharing on social media sites. Security researchers have…

Researchers Find Massive Botnet

Security researchers with NetWitness Corp. have discovered a massive botnet which includes at least 75,000 infected computers at 2,500 companies and government agencies throughout the world. The Kneber botnet has been used by cyber criminals to acquire login credentials for email systems, financial and social networking sites.

The Kneber botnet is named after the username that has linked the infected computers into a botnet. The data uncovered by NetWitness included…

Infection by Social Networking

The past year has seen a sharp increase in cyber attacks against social networking users according to a report released by Sophos. Users of social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook have experienced a 70 percent increase in spam and malware attacks in the past year.

Within the past year, close to 60 percent of users of social networking sites have experienced spam attacks and close to 40 percent…

McAfee, Facebook Partner to Battle Cyber Crime

McAfee and Facebook are partnering to battle cyber crime, using McAfee’s security solutions and Facebook’s broad membership to make security solutions available to more than 350 million Internet users.

The collaboration will include security solutions such as McAfee’s software, a customized scanning and repair tool and education materials, all of which will be available to Facebook users.

Under the agreement,…

Facebook Increasingly Targeted in Phishing Scams

Facebook is advising users of the increasing number of phishing scams that are perpetrated on the social-networking site.

Members login information is being stolen in scams and the scammers are using the information to solicit money from friends.

The phishing messages often claim to be sent from Facebook representatives that require the user to login to a fake page designed to look official. Another common technique is…