Embezzlement, Scams: the Pitfalls of Facebook
Of 800 million “friends” on Facebook, all may not be very honest. Popularity and incredible reservoir of users require, “the way information is exchanged and / or protected in this environment has become one of the key issues of data security” , says the editor of solutions BitDefender, which this week released a white paper on the most common scams on Facebook .
According to antivirus companies, scammers are essentially based on the curiosity of the Internet and play on the “trust capital” they provide to their contacts. Knowing that a user has an average of 130 “friends” on the social network, malicious users to ensure an exponential distribution of their scams. Their scams mainly use four types of attacks:
The diversion of the button “I” or “like-jacking”
A link, usually video, as a recruiter and clicks. Without his knowledge, the user discovers through a message on his wall that he “loved” the content of the latter. In fact, a Java script installed a button “I” invisible under the link “view video”. This scam has a range of increases as Facebook has enhanced the viral aspect of the button “like”, giving it a dimension similar to the “share”. In other words, all the “I” of a surfer on his wall now displayed with a thumbnail and a brief description, the more credibility to the link. Bitdefender estimates in a wide range, the “like-jacking” reports 20 to 200 000 euros per day in advertising revenue.
The diversion of photos or “tag-jacking”
Based on the same principle as the diversion of the button “I”, this process uses the tool of tagging images provided by the Social Platform. Again, the user is encouraged to click on a link to a main video content. The victim is discovered then a photograph was added to the gallery and all his “friends” were tagged on it. Nothing better to stir the curiosity of his contacts, which in turn will click on the link contaminant in turn their “friends” … “The phenomenon of misuse of tags is based on a highly infectious diffusion mechanism, which allows ensure a wider audience with the message ” the report said.
False applications
This technique entices users by making them dangled an attractive service with a view to retrieve their personal data. Example: the false application “Find out who has viewed your profile“, launched in January. A scam that has been widely reported in the pages of Facebook users, recording … 1,411,743 clicks. “bait based on the same subject are designed to trigger emotional responses sought and involve a large number of targets ” , said the book white. One of the variations of the process of false applications is the diversion of events or “event-jacking.” This scam is the creation of a false event to encourage users to click and disseminate a harmful application.
False notifications of Directors page
In this case, the scammers create a fake fan page and insert a customized tab. “To promote the page, the scammers will add many users on Facebook as directors of the malicious page. When users are designated as such they receive an email notifying them of their ‘new social status’ . Upon receipt of such notification, users, fueled by curiosity, click on the link because they do not know this or they do not remember have already participated in the creation of fanpage. When they then land on the false Facebook page, they are redirected to a malicious page ” , explains BitDefender.
Once the pirates are assured of a consistent audience, it can replace a “harmless content at the start by malicious elements” , warns the report. The automatic message visible on the Facebook wall of the Internet becomes a real danger for him and his contacts (unsolicited advertising, data recovery, etc.)..
THE BA-BA RULES OF PROTECTION
“The changes announced by the new social network will make the presence of applications and operating highly visible in the user profile, will enable social scams to achieve unprecedented levels of efficiency ” , the report said. Fortunately, a few simple rules can reduce the risk of scams.
Key, the password is the first defense of private data over the Internet. The antivirus vendors recommend creating a strong password: 12 characters, mixed case, “without use of common names or brand, is a minimum ” . It is also advisable not to store passwords stored in browsers of a phone or a laptop to protect from unwanted access to the account of the social network in case of theft. Another useful precaution: delete cookies. Clearing the navigation data, supported by all browsers, allows to improve the protection of privacy.
Facebook also offers a tool to detect suspicious activity on their profile: the connection notification . This service notifies the user by e-mail or text message when someone logs in to their account via a new device.
Not to provide , reluctantly, information to potential fraudsters, it is recommended to be careful about the amount of information made public. But one of the most effective ways to protect the rest of selecting carefully the information published: many scams are based in fact on biographical elements to encourage the user to send money to a so-called closest, most often in trouble at the other end of the world.
BitDefender points out that the new features announced by the Social Platform at Facebook F8 conference , such as “smart lists” and especially the timeline – a page similar to that of a blog, including both images, messages and applications, reverse chronological order, year by year – offer the opportunity to learn a lot about a person from a glance. A positive innovation in terms of interactions, but that is a potential windfall for crooks who can find detailed information easily on an individual.
In late October, Facebook estimated that hundreds of thousands of profiles were hacked every day. On more than one billion daily connections to the site, 600 000 are impostors who try to access to messages, photos or personal content to users.
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