Jeannie has heard Facebook may cause viruses wreak other havoc on her computer. She asks the following question: “Is using Facebook safe?” Jeannie, I use Facebook and suggest to my family and customers they use it with some precautions which I’ll go over for you.
First, Facebook itself is perfectly fine. I’m not going to bash the Facebook.com website in any way and don’t want to convey to people that it is unsafe. However, there are some unsavory parts of the site that aren’t so harmless. Perhaps the scariest part of Facebook is the people who lurch waiting for unknowing users to target and befriend. Stockers, thieves and hackers have been known to use Facebook to do wrongs.
Viruses are easily disseminated through Facebook because of the nature of how applications are distributed. For $7.00 per month anyone can distribute a virus on Facebook. Most of the time viruses are disguised as innocent applications and sometimes come packaged as friend ranking utilities. No matter if the user is naive or savvy, the applications seem pretty benign and are usually impossible to tell apart from their safe counterparts.
Facebook is open-source in nature. This means that its users patrol and report on the perils and report back to the website so the website managers can remove bad items. It could take several days before enough people lobby Facebook to a point where applications are taken down. Of course, after days a virus laden application could manifest itself in thousands of computers.
I read an article about three weeks ago that stated a typical Facebook application has the potential of spreading to about 40,000 computers in a single day. Here’s how: I install the application on my account. Five of my friends also install it because I’m cool. Then five of each of their friends install it. At this point that virus/application has just landed on 31 machines. Now imagine if I was cooler and had more than five friends. I think you see where I’m headed.
One of the latest and greatest Facebook scams currently out there is the sale of user accounts. The scam initiates with a simple friend request through the site. I receive the request and figure that she can’t be ‘that bad’ because she’s also friends with another one of my friends. Once befriended, that person has access to my personal information which could include family members, birthdays, work places etc. Armed with some very basic information about me she may be able to ascertain my passwords. How you ask?
Everyone has signed up for accounts online which require the use of a few standard questions in case you forget your password. Most of the standard questions parallel the basic information located in the Facebook bio section. It makes it very easy to procure – or even change – your password. Armed with your user name and password a Facebook account with hundreds of friends can be worth $50.00 on the black market. The reason it has value goes back to the distribution of viruses using Facebook as the vehicle.
I’m going to throw out some tips to keep Facebook safe. First, and probably most important, is to make friends with only people who you personally know. Second, change your privacy settings to “only friends” for everything. By doing so only your immediate friends will be able to see your account and basic information. Third, you should remove your birthday year so only the month and day appear. Finally, avoid using applications which can bring you outside of the Facebook website.
Everyone is susceptible to Facebook viruses and scams. It’s tricky to dodge the bullets and have fun at the same time; however, with a little use of your noggin while you’re catching up with old friends you can be safe and enjoy yourself.
Tech-Tip of the week: Visit MyLookout.com from your smart phone device to download free virus and malware software. I did it this weekend and it found one piece of malware!
(Jeromy Patriquin is the President of Laptop & Computer Repair, Inc. located at 509 Main St. in Gardner. You can e-mail him at Jeromy@LocalComputerWiz.com or call him directly at (978) 919-8059.)