Tag: FACEBOOK,SECURITY

Haven't you ever heard the old adage, "if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is"? Well it doesn't just apply to things that are "good" -- it works for just about anything that sounds a bit unbelievable, like that Facebook is going to close all user accounts. It's not gonna happen. That hasn't stopped a new scam from spreading via a rogue app that posts the following message to your ...

Share Clicking on Facebook links is dangerous business. At least a few of aren't aware of this sad fact; otherwise, the latest scam Facebook app wouldn't be spreading at the alarming rate of almost 90,000 clicks per hour. M86 Security labs reported the latest link hoax, which spreads quickly via Facebook Chat. It starts with a message from a friend that reads, "hey, I just made a photoshop ...

After an increasing number of "likejackings," Facebook has finally started to address the problem. But the solution is haphazard at best, say security experts. Likejacking -- the process spammers use to make users click a "like" button hidden beneath some especially tantalizing linkbait -- has become more prevalent. If your Facebook friends seem to be "liking" far too many embarrassing things of ...

It's no secret that Facebook has plenty of underage users, but, according to a report from the Daily Telegraph, the social network is doing its best to keep them out. Facebook's chief privacy adviser, Mozelle Thompson, confirmed yesterday that the site bans about 20,000 underage users every day, as part of its campaign to tighten its 13-and-older age limit. Speaking to a Parliamentary ...

Earlier today, a British hacker was sentenced to two years in prison for five counts of hacking and theft. Ashley Mitchell, 29, hacked into Zynga (the game giant behind 'FarmVille' and 'Texas HoldEm Poker'), stole more than $11 million in credits, and laundered a third of them through Facebook. There are some potentially interesting ramifications to this case. The court ignored the defense's ...

The Taliban has begun sending gruesome "night letters" -- violent videos meant to intimidate and control Afghans -- en masse via SMS. Historically written threats posted on buildings, night letters have long been a successful means of coercion by the Taliban. The video form has cropped up in the last couple of years on Facebook and YouTube, and tends toward the extreme, such as interviews of ...

Facebook has yet to go public, and it's still unclear whether it even will. But that hasn't stopped some con artists from using the specter of a Facebook IPO to rip off gullible investors. The scams are popping up, in various forms, across YouTube and the blogosphere. But they all follow the same general formula: visitors are offered the chance to invest in Facebook and other social media ...

Security firm Sophos has proven once again that, despite most of the attention and scorn being focused on companies like Facebook and Google, you are your own worst enemy when it comes to online security. The company ran an experiment in which it sent an invite to 200 randomly selected accounts to befriend one Freddi Staur -- an anagram for "ID fraudster." Of those 200 people 82 accepted the ...

Facebook is expected to unveil a new set of anti-bullying tools today at the White House Conference for Bullying Prevention in Washington, D.C. The changes, designed to "create a culture of respect" among Facebook users, are focused on two main areas: a revamped safety center, and a broader array of more social mechanisms for reporting offensive or threatening content. The social network's ...

Facebook plans to go ahead and share its users' home addresses and phone numbers with third-party developers, despite the concerns of privacy advocates, members of Congress, and just about everyone else. Yesterday, the company released a response (PDF) to Representatives Ed Markey and Joe Barton, who had penned a letter to CEO Mark Zuckerberg earlier this month voicing their concerns over ...

Symptom: Maybe your Twitter or Facebook friends have gotten viciously spammed with fake offers for a free iPad, or a link to a fake app -- from your profile. Or, maybe you've discover posts on your profile that you never wrote, often with links leading to websites, apps or coupons. You may discover personal messages sent to friends that you didn't write, perhaps asking them to wire money. Or, ...

In today's Facebook travels, you may have noticed that free Southwest flights constituted a hot topic of discussion amongst your friends. (We received several comments today along those lines.) Well, to nobody's surprise, those comments were nothing but spam messages. In case you were goofy enough to click on one of those links, read Mashable's directions on how to disinfect your Facebook. ...

Illinois Democratic Senator Richard Durbin wrote a letter to Mark Zuckerberg last week, asking the Facebook CEO to offer stronger online protection to political dissidents who use the social network for organizing protests. Citing the recent upheavals in Egypt and Tunisia, Durbin argued that Facebook should allow people to use fake names in order to avoid persecution from authoritarian regimes. ...

Mark Zuckerberg, the man who made it easier for everyone to get in touch with their inner voyeur, apparently has his own Facebook stalker to worry about. The Facebook CEO recently obtained a restraining order against a 31-year-old man named Pradeep Manukonda, who, according to legal papers obtained by TMZ, has been trying to "follow, surveil and contact Mr. Zuckerberg using language threatening ...

Inspired by the recent upheavals in Tunisia and Egypt, a group of online activists in Syria has started a Facebook group that's calling for a peaceful "2011 Syrian Revolution." On the page, which has attracted over 7,800 members, the group calls for young Syrians to begin protesting on Friday "after prayer, in what will be the first day of anger and civil rebellion by the Syrian people in all ...