Facebook

[Lady Cop]

i don't belong to this, but i know many people do. this is simply a heads-up to Facebook users, i have no idea the severity of situation. best to be aware however.

Facebook stopped a phishing attack on Thursday, its second day in a row of dealing with a worm on the site that lures people to a fake Facebook page and prompts them to log in.




Facebook has faced two phishing attacks in the past two days but officials aren't sure whether they are related.

Unsuspecting Facebook users get a message from a friend urging them to "check this out" and including a link to a Web page that appears to be a Facebook log-in page, but it is a fake site that steals their information when they type in their username and password. The worm also sends a copy of the message to the infected Facebook member's contacts.

In the latest attack, the Web address was "FBStarter.com." In Wednesday's attack, the address was "BAction.net."

The attacks were stopped within a few hours in each case, said Facebook spokesman Barry Schnitt. He said it was too early to say whether the two phishing attacks are related. "We are investigating," Schnitt said.

Once Facebook learns of a phishing attack, either by members notifying the company or employees noticing that a URL is being distributed to a lot of people, the company deletes the URL from members' pages, blocks fresh postings, and removes the redirect to the URL that appears in e-mail messages, Schnitt said.

Facebook also goes in and resets the passwords of member accounts that had been used to distribute the spam, he said.

The company also alerts anti-fraud partner MarkMonitor, which passes the phishing URL on to the major browsers to block it and contacts ISPs to take the site down, according to Schnitt.

To protect against phishing scams, Facebook users should make sure that the URL they are visiting says "http://www.facebook.com." If it doesn't use that domain it's likely to be spam. Also, members that are already logged in to Facebook will not be asked to log in again.

"People should have a healthy dose of suspicion, and ask themselves 'why did I get logged out?'" Schnitt said. "If something looks a little strange you should check the address bar."

Facebook users who think they have been affected by the scam should change their passwords and review their Facebook stream for any unauthorized changes. If they use their Facebook password for other sites, they should change those passwords as well.

[Luke Warmwater]

fuck that place. Before the phishing too.

[Lady Cop]

i've had people try to pressure me into joining the site, i refuse. if there arepeople i want to stay in touch with, i will do it via email.

my youngest son loves his MySpace, it's very popular. but this morning i told him to stay off of it for a few days.

these social sites are currently hot zones from what i have read.

[NaNo]

if you make a shortcut to the MySpace page and tell him NOT to enter any passwords unless it's through that link, he wont fall upon some phishing site.

The phishing sites will mostly be opened in a pop-up, or in the form of a link sent by an IM client etc. (This is usually an indication of spyware)

If you're sensible in what you do, the internet can be a safe place. Phishing is just another way that hackers are exploiting peoples' naivety.

[SyberBitch]

I have a myspace page, but I very rarely visit it.

One should never follow links in email messages that require a login.

Honestly, myspace bores the living shit out of me.

[LuMPyPussy]

I'm embarrassed to admit I visit there a few times a week and if I see a quiz that looks fun, I'll take it. Here's the latest result:

Your Result: Jean-Luc Picard

You are highly intelligent, but also introverted. Because of this it is easier for you to focus on success in the workplace than in interpersonal relationships. You enjoy literature and philosophy and use these in your search to understand the world and yourself at a deeper level. You are an honorable leader and a trustworthy friend, but most around you still view you as somewhat of an enigma.

::bravo::Jean-Luc is awesome!

[Liquid]

Facebook is a necessary evil currently if you have a business and you want to promote it. with over 200 million people on it and millions more a day joining you can not avoid being involved somehow. Our business sites drive people to our regular sites and offices.
It was recently reported that people are visiting FB and other social networking sites MORE then they open their own personal emails. that means more people will log into their facebook page and see what their friends are doing,or the the groups they are part of are doing- then surf the internet. people are emailing others for both personal and business reasons more directly through FB then traditional email options. that is very powerful and if used correctly can be positive for a business or promotion.

on a personal level, it is pretty convienient to be able to communicate with everyone you know all in one place and on one platform.

[QueenBee]

I will admit to having recently joined FB as well. I have run into cousins and a couple of old college friends who I had lost contact with.

LMPP..I do some of the apps too. A guilty pleasure.

As with Jackboots..I'd rather use email for folks I keep in more regular contact with, but FB serves a good purpose as well. Some of the folks from 24, also kn ow Kim, the lady I work with. She is using FB to promote a series of presentations she does to kids, which kind of goes with what Liquid mentioned.

I guess I will keep it.

[LKTraz]

I have a Facebook page.....it just sits there. Big deal. Useless as far as I'm concerned.