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Facebook AV

  • Post author: Omid Farhang
  • Post published: March 30, 2010
  • Reading Time: 1 min
  • Word Count: 142 words

Does a Facebook-specific antivirus application sound like a good idea? Maybe not. One of our analysts saw this particular application claiming to be an antivirus wreak havoc on his Friends list. Of course, there is no such thing. Once installed on one Friend’s account, this application tags 20 Friend into a picture such as the one below: If a Friend looking through the photos then clicks on the app’s (apparently randomly generated) link, they’ll see this: ...

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The Facebook Dislike Button Likes Hotbar

  • Post author: Omid Farhang
  • Post published: March 23, 2010
  • Reading Time: 2 min
  • Word Count: 246 words

Not so long ago, examples of fake Firefox websites / downloads were in the news with the sites involved serving Hotbar installs. It seems the tactic of offering up Firefox (but giving you something else entirely) is going to be around for a little while. Below is a site promoting a Firefox .xpi called “The Dislike Button”, designed to let you add an “I dislike this” note to Facebook posts: ...

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become a fan of Omid on Facebook

  • Post author: Omid Farhang
  • Post published: March 22, 2010
  • Reading Time: 1 min
  • Word Count: 164 words

You are invited to become a fan of Omid’s Network on Facebook. Those of you who already have a Facebook page; all you have to do is become a fan to view the Omid fan page in its entirety. But to participate fully you must join Facebook. If you do not already have a Facebook profile you will still be able to view photos and basic information (but c’mon, you know you have wanted to jump on the Facebook bandwagon – here’s a good reason why.) ...

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Facebook Suffers ‘Password Reset’ Scam

  • Post author: Omid Farhang
  • Post published: March 18, 2010
  • Reading Time: 2 min
  • Word Count: 237 words

Today has been quite a busy day for scammers. We have been tracking a global scam/spam run that targets Facebook users. The lure used in the run is a familiar one: Facebook Password Reset Confirmation! Customer Support. The email looks like the following [Just it won’t notify you it’s Spam, it’s my own Software 😉 ]: The activity on this particular scam run has been global from the beginning. The malware in the attachment is pretty much what one would expect: downloaders, password-stealing Trojan, fake-AV, or bot stuff, depending on which one you got. Check out the Artemis map of this malware: ...

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Facebook Users Suffer From ‘Fram’

  • Post author: Omid Farhang
  • Post published: March 12, 2010
  • Reading Time: 3 min
  • Word Count: 460 words

About a year or so ago one of the “McMarketeers” decided it would be fun to run a campaign against “fram”–spam that friends send you. As you might guess, we in the Labs have no friends, so it was no problem for us to ridicule the idea. However, around the coffee machine the other day I got involved in a quick discussion about spam on Facebook. A long-term social networker genuinely thought that Facebook spam did not exist and that all the noise was from Facebookers playing games or using annoying apps. So I offered to write up an example. ...

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Cute (and malicious)

  • Post author: Omid Farhang
  • Post published: March 8, 2010
  • Reading Time: 2 min
  • Word Count: 408 words

There’s an angelically tinged infection doing the rounds at the moment that has more than a whiff of sulphur about it. We can’t say for definite, but it looks like the point of this little angel is to turn your PC into a file storage area for an IRC channel since it dumps you into #music IRC channels and makes sure you can accept various media files. Our tale begins with an Email, claiming you have a “funny picture from Facebook friends” waiting for you at Oast(dot)com: ...

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Facebook, Twitter Use Skyrockets on Cell Phones

  • Post author: Omid Farhang
  • Post published: March 6, 2010
  • Reading Time: 1 min
  • Word Count: 147 words

New comScore data shows that Facebook and Twitter use has skyrocketed on mobile devices over the past year, and that on-the-go MySpace use is now on the decline, according to MediaPost. Here are the numbers: Facebook now sees 25.1 million mobile users as of January 2010, which is more than double the January 2009 total. Twitter grew to 4.7 million during the same period, which is four times the year-ago total, the report said. ...

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Who’s watching you really?

  • Post author: Omid Farhang
  • Post published: March 5, 2010
  • Reading Time: 2 min
  • Word Count: 325 words

This morning while I was enjoying my coffee I received an event notification for my personal Facebook account. It was for a group called “See Who’s Spying On Your Profile – GET NOTIFIED -”. and “See Everyone Who Views Your Profile”. Immediately, my security hat went on and I started to investigate. At first glace, they are both pyramid schemes. In both, you become a fan, then you have to suggest the page to 50 of your friends to move onto the next stage. From there the tactics diverge slightly. In the first one, you need to take a marketing quiz that asks for all sorts of personal info, and you need to put in your Facebook username and password, so they can “monitor” your profile. AND you have to provide them with your mobile number. Now wait a minute
 why would they need my mobile number? ...

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Yahoo Mail Makes Friends With Facebook

  • Post author: Omid Farhang
  • Post published: March 5, 2010
  • Reading Time: 1 min
  • Word Count: 66 words

Facebook Connect integration with Yahoo Mail! The new feature means that Yahoo Mail users can now connect their Facebook accounts and integrate their Facebook friends’ email addresses into their Yahoo Contacts list. Users can visit the Import Contacts page to be guided through he Facebook friend import process. What do you think of this, do you like it or dislike it. Tell us in the comments!

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KOOBFACE Makes a Comeback

  • Post author: Omid Farhang
  • Post published: March 2, 2010
  • Reading Time: 2 min
  • Word Count: 238 words

A new KOOBFACE variant is again making the rounds in the social-networking scene. According to Trend Micro researcher, Norman Ingal, the malware employs Facebook’s Private Message feature to proliferate. The threat arrives as a Facebook private message that does not bear a subject but contains a supposed link to a YouTube video. Taking a closer look at the link, however, indicates that it is not an authentic YouTube link as in previous attacks. ...

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