MyVirusFacester
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/the_facebook_virus_spreads_no_social_network_is_safe.php
I wish I'd paid more attention.
I got an innocent enough seeming email from a regular correspondant. It said something to the effect of "I saw this picture and it has to be you."
Given that I did tv and stage for years, that was actually a possiblity. So I clicked on the link provided. (Dumb.)
It took me to a website with ghosted out images on it. Over the top of that was an interface asking me to take an IQ test. There was no way to close out of it. Ok, says I, and I answered the silly questions. (Dumber.)
At the end, I was asked for money! The only way to get rid of the silly interface was to register (pay) for the privelege. I did't. (Finally! Not so dumb!)
Net result: no ill effects that I'm aware of yet.
Today, I was scanning through my regular technical info websites, and came across a post for something called the "Koobface" virus. Say my friends at Readwriteweb: ""Koobface" is the name of the Trojan worm that's been making its way through the social networking site Facebook lately, but to the site's users, it's been simply known as "the Facebook virus." That name will soon become a misnomer, though, because the worm is now spreading outside of Facebook's walls to attack other social networks like Bebo, MySpace, Friendster, MyYearbook, and Blackplanet."
"Once a computer has become infected with the Koobface worm, it spams the friends belonging to the owner of the computer by leaving comments on their profiles." I have to admit, once I got to the webpage in question, it did occur to me that the friend who had purportedly sent the email would probably not have spent money to get on the site!
More common than an interface directly demanding money, however, is the ploy of instructing the unsuspecting user that she has to update her Flash player in order to see the (usually videos) in question. That would probably not have raised any alarms for me, and I might have followed the instructions. The download would, of course, have infected my computer with either Koobface or a similar virus. And my (soon-to-be-angry) contact list would have gotten a similar email from me, urging them to check out the photo/video I'd found of them.
The tricky part of this is the social engineering aspect of the come-on. We've all been school to not open emails from unknown senders. We've been schooled to avoid downloads we're not expecting, even from known senders. But we've not yet learned to shun links from trusted friends.
I suppose the canned nature of the email might have alerted me - but how many times have you visited a funny site and taken advantage of the "send this site to a friend" service. The result will be a canned email which you may (or may not) customize with your own message. I get a few of these a week, and usually think nothing of them.
Given the frequency with which all of us pass links to fun and/or interesting websites to one another, and given the reliance of marketers on the viral value of new media materials (speaking of that, have you seen J. C. Penney's brilliant new viral video? - I swear, it's safe!), this type of virus might prove a real cramp in current internet style.
Nevertheless, the warning is clear: be careful what you click on! And never never never never download anything that you don't specifically seek out. Even if a trusted site wants you to update a plug in, it's safer to navigate to the plug-in's provider site yourself, perform the download, and then attempt to access the material in question, rather than allow another website to do your updating for you.
I wish I'd paid more attention.
I got an innocent enough seeming email from a regular correspondant. It said something to the effect of "I saw this picture and it has to be you."
Given that I did tv and stage for years, that was actually a possiblity. So I clicked on the link provided. (Dumb.)
It took me to a website with ghosted out images on it. Over the top of that was an interface asking me to take an IQ test. There was no way to close out of it. Ok, says I, and I answered the silly questions. (Dumber.)
At the end, I was asked for money! The only way to get rid of the silly interface was to register (pay) for the privelege. I did't. (Finally! Not so dumb!)
Net result: no ill effects that I'm aware of yet.
Today, I was scanning through my regular technical info websites, and came across a post for something called the "Koobface" virus. Say my friends at Readwriteweb: ""Koobface" is the name of the Trojan worm that's been making its way through the social networking site Facebook lately, but to the site's users, it's been simply known as "the Facebook virus." That name will soon become a misnomer, though, because the worm is now spreading outside of Facebook's walls to attack other social networks like Bebo, MySpace, Friendster, MyYearbook, and Blackplanet."
"Once a computer has become infected with the Koobface worm, it spams the friends belonging to the owner of the computer by leaving comments on their profiles." I have to admit, once I got to the webpage in question, it did occur to me that the friend who had purportedly sent the email would probably not have spent money to get on the site!
More common than an interface directly demanding money, however, is the ploy of instructing the unsuspecting user that she has to update her Flash player in order to see the (usually videos) in question. That would probably not have raised any alarms for me, and I might have followed the instructions. The download would, of course, have infected my computer with either Koobface or a similar virus. And my (soon-to-be-angry) contact list would have gotten a similar email from me, urging them to check out the photo/video I'd found of them.
The tricky part of this is the social engineering aspect of the come-on. We've all been school to not open emails from unknown senders. We've been schooled to avoid downloads we're not expecting, even from known senders. But we've not yet learned to shun links from trusted friends.
I suppose the canned nature of the email might have alerted me - but how many times have you visited a funny site and taken advantage of the "send this site to a friend" service. The result will be a canned email which you may (or may not) customize with your own message. I get a few of these a week, and usually think nothing of them.
Given the frequency with which all of us pass links to fun and/or interesting websites to one another, and given the reliance of marketers on the viral value of new media materials (speaking of that, have you seen J. C. Penney's brilliant new viral video? - I swear, it's safe!), this type of virus might prove a real cramp in current internet style.
Nevertheless, the warning is clear: be careful what you click on! And never never never never download anything that you don't specifically seek out. Even if a trusted site wants you to update a plug in, it's safer to navigate to the plug-in's provider site yourself, perform the download, and then attempt to access the material in question, rather than allow another website to do your updating for you.
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