Privacy, Security & Virus Information

Facebook's Hilarious Video will have you Laughing on the Other Side of your Face

Facebook has been seeing an increasing number of phishing and malware attacks recently. The latest in series is a phishing attack that lures you to watch the ‘most hilarious video ever’ but when you try to click on it, it asks you for your login credentials and installs the ‘Media Player HD’ app on your Facebook account. The app not only compromises your Facebook account but also installs malware on your computer leading to a potential leak of sensitive information.

To avoid it, simply DON’T click on any such link inviting you to watch a hilarious video and if you think you have already, change your Facebook password and uninstall the ‘Media Player HD’ app. The message for the hilarious video may appear on your wall or come in as a message from one of your friends. To save yourself from such attacks you can also install a free app Defensio that will protect your wall from messages like these.

Social networking site Facebook faced a third phishing attack on the weekend, with a malware, which steals login credentials and even gets home addresses, being downloaded through a video.

According to WebSense, the malware is spread via a "hilarious video" posted to Facebook walls, which when clicked, produces a form requesting login information, reports the Sydney Morning Herald.

The attack then returns one to Facebook, installs an app called "Media Player HD", and asks one to download the "FLV player", which upon doing so installs malware on the machine.

And that is not the only way it attacks. Depending on the location, one may also be presented with a contest to win an iPad, and all one would have to do is enter the home address.

In order to avoid the malware, one needs to remove the "hilarious video" if found on the Facebook wall. And if it is seen elsewhere on Facebook, users are to remember not to click on it, and to of course remember the obvious rule: don't enter your Facebook login anywhere other than on Facebook.com.

In case a person has already clicked on it, all he or she needs to do is change the Facebook password, uninstall the Facebook app (often called "Media Player HD"), and run a virus/malware scan on the computer.

 

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