Facebook Gets Friended By Malware

News Type: Event — Seeded on Wed Aug 27, 2008 9:02 AM EDT

Article Source: The New York Times

technology, facebook, facebook-and-spam, facebook-under-attack-by-malware, malaware

On the Internet, popularity often draws the attention of hackers. So it is not surprising that Facebook has become the target of a spate of attacks, just as the membership on the site has swelled to about 100 million active users worldwide.

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Groups: Domestic, Newsvine Technology, Open Mic, Psych, Soc, Philos, Science And Technology
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This visualization below allows you to see the impact that each user has on the current conversation. The top row contains the group of users who have had the most impact, the 2nd row the group of users who have had the 2nd most impact (et cetera). Users with similar impact are grouped together, and the average score of the group is shown to the left of the group. The author of the article is also shown on the left, in their corresponding group. Each user's score is based on the number of comments the user has made plus the number of votes their comments have received. The scores are calculated relative one another, so while their absolute value is not particularly important, their relative difference does indicate a larger difference in impact on the conversation.

8.9

{"commentId":2604405,"authorDomain":"SVForbes"}

ShaunV

Facebook acknowledges that it has been under attack but suggested the problems are largely under control. "Over the past few days, we have received reports from users of spam and phishing attacks," the company said in a statement. "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."

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2 votes

#1 - Wed Aug 27, 2008 9:10 AM EDT

{"commentId":2604809,"authorDomain":"schwab"}

Schwab

facebook has become a wreck since letting 3rd party applications run amok. Its still better than myspace though.

{"commentId":2604809,"threadId":"341071","contentId":"1791509","authorDomain":"schwab"}

3 votes

#2 - Wed Aug 27, 2008 9:43 AM EDT

{"commentId":2604880,"authorDomain":"SVForbes"}

ShaunV

Thanks for the technical input.

{"commentId":2604880,"threadId":"341071","contentId":"1791509","authorDomain":"SVForbes"}

2 votes

#2.1 - Wed Aug 27, 2008 9:49 AM EDT

{"commentId":2605276,"authorDomain":"schwab"}

Schwab

I also had a message from one of my high school teachers (yes, it's kind of weird that he added me, but he's a nice guy) that I hadn't spoken to in years that said something like:
"Is that really you?: 'link'"

Since I hadn't heard from him and years and the message was so strange I asked him what was up and he said:
"Don't open it! Someone hacked into my account and sent that out to a group of you...I notified facebook; hopefully they've done something about it."

This sort of thing doesn't really surprise me though. People that are inexperienced often will click on dangerous links and not have the proper firewall or anti-virus protection needed to prevent this.

{"commentId":2605276,"threadId":"341071","contentId":"1791509","authorDomain":"schwab"}

2 votes

#2.2 - Wed Aug 27, 2008 10:22 AM EDT

{"commentId":2605349,"authorDomain":"SVForbes"}

ShaunV

I am not surprised by this, either.

{"commentId":2605349,"threadId":"341071","contentId":"1791509","authorDomain":"SVForbes"}

2 votes

#2.3 - Wed Aug 27, 2008 10:27 AM EDT

{"commentId":2608500,"authorDomain":"jamesmirick"}

Jim Mirick

In lots of cases the firewall / AV won't help against a polymorphic virus or stuff entering (as these links would) over port 80. An even bigger problem is widgets and syndicated ads that have been corrupted by malware. This isn't just limited to Facebook.

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4 votes

#2.4 - Wed Aug 27, 2008 1:16 PM EDT

{"commentId":2609642,"authorDomain":"SVForbes"}

ShaunV

Thanks, Jim.

{"commentId":2609642,"threadId":"341071","contentId":"1791509","authorDomain":"SVForbes"}

2 votes

#2.5 - Wed Aug 27, 2008 2:13 PM EDT

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SHAUNV

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Facebook Gets Friended By Malware

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