Facebook is fun, but watch out for crafty hackers who want to spoil it
Social networking has become almost as synonymous with the online world as blogging over the past year or so. People are reconnecting with friends from their past and staying in touch just like old times again. It really is a uniquely 21st Century phenomenon that has brought the world much closer together than ever before. While many of the kids and teenagers enjoy hanging out on MySpace, a growing contingent of people are turning to Facebook to chronicle all that is happening in their lives with their list of friends.
I have my own Facebook page and so does my wife Christine (who’s addicted to it now!). With my 20-year high school reunion coming up next year, this has been the perfect way to communicate with former classmates about what we are planning to do. The neat thing is brand new people are coming to Facebook all the time, so it’s like a reunion whenever you reconnect with people from high school, college, or who you haven’t seen in a very long time.
But with such a wonderful place comes the risk of being taken advantage of and that’s exactly what has happened this week to the 120 million active users of Facebook. A truly evil and maniacal web virus called “Koobface” disguises itself as a note from one of your Facebook “friends” with some strange messages that long-time Internet users would immediately recognize as fake. Even still, a lot of people have been victimized by this virus, including my wife Christine who was none the wiser about it when she clicked on the message from a “friend.”
What was funny to her was that she hadn’t received a message from this friend before, but she decided to check out the attached link he sent to her anyway. The message in the e-mail sent to her stated, “You look just awesome in this new movie” with an “Oh WOW!” and a link to an alleged video of you on the Internet. Here’s a screen shot of what it looked like:
When Christine clicked on the link, it took her to a page with a “Secret Video by Tom” where you receive a message stating you need to download an updated version of Adobe’s Flash player in order to watch the video. We’ve all seen these messages before and think nothing about updating older versions of frequently used software, so it didn’t look strange to Christine. Here’s what that screen looked like:
Then, if you actually download this to your desktop as instructed, your computer will become infected with the “Koobface” virus. I received several of these messages myself (including one that was supposedly from Christine) and immediately noticed what it was when I saw it. Other messages said “WOW” and “COOL VIDEO” before the link to go see the video. When you click on the link provided and it asks you to download the new Flash update, it is what is called an executable file, or .exe. Anytime you see a .exe on the end of a download, CANCEL IT! More than likely, that’s a virus. Unfortunately for Christine, she didn’t know that (although I’ve told her before) and now her computer is infected with the “Koobface” virus. She didn’t know what happened when she received this fake error message after the download:
What were the results of this “Koobface” virus infecting her PC? At first it was difficult to tell, but when Christine attempted to use a search engine for some information about a Wii game she was playing it became evident very quickly. When she attempted to click on a link she found in Google, Yahoo, MSN and others, they all redirected her to another web site at find-www.net that is involved with illegal clicks on sponsor ads. Considering the millions of people who use search engines daily, this could add up to a healthy chunk of change for those responsible for this dastardly virus.
Facebook is now aware of the “Koobface” virus and is encouraging members who have been effected by these fake e-mails from their “friends” to delete them ASAP. For those who already clicked on the .exe file and have an infected computer now, they set up this security page with directions about how to clean up the mess left behind by the virus. Don’t let this virus stay on your computer for very long because the hackers can steal your information, including credit card numbers, passwords to protected sites, and much worse. These faceless cowards who are doing this to people have no shame in upsetting the apple cart and wreaking havoc on their unsuspecting, innocent victims.
The lesson here is beware of any suspicious looking hyperlinks you receive from ANYONE unless you are absolutely sure the sender is indeed the person you think it is. While it may be difficult to tell, one clue is if the message appears to be generic or if it is specific about YOU (i.e. a generic message would be “Haven’t heard from you in a while. Let’s catch up! See what I’m up to now!” followed by a link while a specific message would state “Hey Christine, glad to see you on Facebook. Sorry to hear about your chelation treatments for your headaches and joint pain, but I hope it gets better soon. See what I’m doing now!” followed by a link). Taking precautions to protect your computer is tantamount because these hackers are heartless and inconsiderate towards their prey. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!
Yes
–Jimmy