Do you know that Internet security concern increases by many folds in context to social networking websites like Facebook, and others?
The interesting world of the Facebook is often polluted by spammers, who in a very smart way spread viruses and malwares through Facebook as well as other social networking sites. The word “smart” has been used here in the context of the fact that spammers infuse the viruses and malwares through seemingly harmless posts, links and videos. These malware are spread in a deceptive manner through disguised channels and as a receiver, we don’t even realize that when spammers end up gaining access to our personal information.
Malware attacks on our Facebook profile can hamper us in a lot many ways: like it can hack our complete profile and send offensive content to our friends, which will degrade our social image. Another possible threat is that the malware can get infused into our OS and can lead to complete system crash. Likewise there are numerous threats that we can’t even figure out.
Why It Is Important to Avoid Malware on Facebook?
Facebook is gaining huge popularity and eventually people of all age groups and from different walks of life have started participating in it. Facebook is also widening its horizons, and today it’s not just social forum, but also a chatting & messaging platform, an advertising medium, a business promotion channel, a gaming zone and lots more. As the functionalities of Facebook have grown, also there has been a growth of risks to Internet security.
As a Facebook user, we all know that how we allow Facebook to snatch a reflection of our real life. Although it’s an interesting medium through which we do virtual socializing but at the same time we also give up a lot many information about ourselves and our friends through Facebook content, that can be used against us in ways unknown to us.
That is the reason why security is considered as a major concern in relation to Internet and Social Networking websites like Facebook. On social networking forums, in spite of so many measures we end up exposing ourselves to thousands of strangers, which can be really dangerous if not put under control.
Common Ways Through Which Malware are Spread in Facebook
Given below are some of the common ways through which spammers make malware viral on Facebook.
Shortened links: We often come across links of shortened or abbreviated URLs that appear for legitimate blogs and articles. But in reality these links lead to harmful or malicious websites that can install spyware, malware, and other viruses on our computer.
Authorization Demands From Untrustworthy Games and Apps: On Facebook whenever, we try to play some game or use some apps, we are asked for authorization that will give Facebook the permission to access our information or make posts on our friend’s wall. Don’t give authorization to any such game which is not popular or you are not sure of its genuineness.
Recognize telltale signs of spam: If you are getting multiple links or video posts from a friend who is also making those posts on the walls of several other friends, then you should immediately understand that it is the work of a spammer. Don’t click on those links. One such common spam that is viral these days is the one that says that you can know who all have visited your profile. This spam come along with an “Activate Profile Viewer Notifications” link, avoid clicking it.
Avoid the posts received from unknown friends: From an unknown friend if you receive some greeting post like “hey Christin, you’ll never believe but I lost 10 kilos in 1 month [website link]” or “hey Mark! You’ll never believe this but I just got a free iPad delivered to my door! [website link]”. Avoid clicking on these kinds of faulty links.
Avoid the YouTube videos from unknown friend: If you get a YouTube video tagged to your name followed by message like “Hey {your name} what you doing in this video?” Don’t click on such video links.
Avoid posts that promise you impractical wining of gadgets or clothes: Posts of winning gadgets, clothes, watches, etc are common ways through which malwares are spread in the Facebook. Users get posts that promise winning of iPad, iPhone, camera, etc and give a link through which users can claim the win. Don’t believe on such deceptive posts.
Precautionary steps to overcome malware attack on Facebook
Although, Facebook admin tries best to avoid the circulation of spam posts, but till now this hasn’t get checked completely and we do receive spam posts on our walls. Following are the precautionary steps that you can take up to overcome malware attack on Facebook profile.
Delete spam posts from your wall by clicking the “X” to the right side of the post. You can also mark the post as spam.
Games that you suspect to be spam or not playing anymore, get rid of those. For this go to “Account Settings,” and then “Manage Apps.” Here, you have the option to remove games and apps from your profile.
If you find that spam posts are been made under your name in friends wall, then there are chances that your profile has been hacked. Change your Facebook password immediately.
Always keep secure browsing enabled via Facebook Security settings
Keep your system and network connection protected, by keeping the Firewall enabled and also by installing an antivirus program.
We all will agree that for majority of us Facebook has almost become a regular activity of day-to-day life. In spite of very tight schedule, we all prefer checking out our Facebook profile once. In this article, we have talked about the threats and security risks that malware can bring along through Facebook. But that doesn’t mean that we should part away from Facebook. In fact, we should become aware of the possible threats and should know how to tackle those effectively.