Facebook? It’s probably one of the most popular web applications out there. Anyone living outside of a cave has a profile, (even my parents!), and people update it with their everyday activities, holiday snaps and weekend plans. Some people even seem to spend their entire lives on it.
Recently though, I’ve started receiving emails from Facebook saying that one of my friends has sent me a message. They actually have, and the message links to a website. The message also has some weird text: "nice bum" one of them said.
When you click on the link, you’ll probably get a YouTube video. Or so it says. When you click play to watch the video, it’ll give you a message to download an update to Flash Player. Of course, this is actually a Trojan. And that site? A clever phishing website; not actually everyone’s favorite time waster.
How is this happening? It seems people’s accounts are being hacked. Or perhaps it’s one of those cool little apps. BBC’s Click once did a trial, where they created there own app, which copied the profiles of people that added it, (along with that of their friends), and mailed it back to the owner. Because of Facebook’s right’s management system, all a user has to do is click continue on the "install app" screen. It basically gives away the key to your profile to that app. That app, is loaded completely from off the Facebook server, so they can’t see what it’s doing.
It appears to me that Facebook is as secure as leaving your house, full of all your precious belongings, unlocked. Of course, I do prefer it to Bebo and Myspace.
UPDATE: See my new post here.
JK
