Facebook Bombarded With Fake Antivirus Scan

Facebook Bombarded With Fake Antivirus Scan

In what seems to be an annoying start to the New Year for Facebook users worldwide, fake virus alerts are coercing social networkers to download fake antivirus software.

The finding, compiled by Panda Labs, spells trouble for the social network site giant since these fake virus alerts, also known as scareware, are playing havoc with Facebook users and encouraging them to download fake antivirus software.

These fake alerts are passed on through Facebook messaging service through bulk message forwards or through ‘wall’ postings.

Messages appear in an inbox or on the user’s ‘wall’ telling them their Facebook would speed up by deleting an application called ‘un named app.’ A user can add a lot of applications on their Facebook profile.

The irony here is that there is absolutely no malicious link in the message that is being forwarded or posted on the user’s ‘wall,’ but trouble starts when a user starts searching for more information on the application. As a user navigates through malicious websites, he is alerted to download the fake antivirus software.

Keeping note of this, Panda Labs have directed social networkers not to forward on this message to anyone, most importantly to their friends, in order to stop this fake virus warning afflicting Facebook users worldwide.

Facebook has more than 350 million members and its users are regularly vulnerable to viruses and spam which plague the social network.

This incident only adds to the worries of most popular social networking site in the world, and with the colossal number of members it commands, it is a fairly big virus threat to the computing world.

Half of the Internet users worldwide still do not have any antivirus software protecting their computers. Facebook users whose accounts get hijacked lose the validity of their accounts and have to go through a remediation process. It is important for its users to take strict note of this virus threat in order to avoid any untoward incident of losing their Facebook account.