Facebook Responds to Security Threat

Michael Arrington of TechCrunch has followed up on yesterday’s post with an update on the Facebook worm with a response from Facebook’s head of security, Max Kelly.

From TechCrunch:

Facebook head of security Max Kelly, a former FBI computer forensics examiner, wrote a blog post tonight addressing the worm attacks on Facebook we wrote about earlier today. His advice to Facebook users: report suspected malware, and try not to share your password with anyone. Kelly also says Facebook blocked the ability to link to the malicious website from anywhere on Facebook, although a black list approach like this is a never ending battle.

Thanks Max for that great advice! At least Facebook is taking the initiative to get this taken care of, although attacks such as these tend to be an ongoing battle in today’s society.

Security firms have warned that social networks such as Facebook and MySpace are breeding grounds for security attacks becuase they have massive user bases, numerous outside developers working on the Web sites and lots of ways to spread malware to unwitting users. The worm was first flagged by security firm Sophos, just days after another one had been discovered by Kaspersky Labs.

Worms Invade Facebook!

Interesting posting by Michael Arrington on TechCrunch today about a new worm virus which is targeting Facebook members’ comment walls.

From the posting:

The worm spreads when a compromised user’s account is used to send message to others with a title such as “LOL. You’ve been catched on hidden cam, yo:” and a link to a random URL. The linked website is a YouTube-like page that shows a video player along with what looks like a standard browser message to update your Flash installation. Clicking on the button begins a malware installation of a file called “codecsetup.exe.” We didn’t go so far as to install the software, but our guess is that it zombies your computer, installs a keylogger, and other fun stuff.

CNET also has an article on this topic which gives some more detailed information.

Sophos, a security software and research firm, has warned that social network Facebook is the battleground for a new malware attack targeting members’ comment “walls”. Sophos says that this is probably not the same as a social-network worm that Kaspersky Labs flagged last week.