Hackers recently used the Facebook Wall to trick Facebook members into following a link purportedly to view a video hosted by Google. Instead, the Facebook users were tricked into installing a Trojan horse. Security firm Sophos discovered the Facebook hacker attack, and Facebook has since contacted victims and placed a block to protect the site.
Popular social-networking Web site Facebook is fighting back against hackers.
Users of the social-networking site recently bit a dangling carrot that hackers used to lure them to other Web sites, only to learn that they were victims of a malicious hacker attack.
Hackers, impersonating members’ friends, attacked Facebook by convincing users on Facebook’s Wall to view a video link that they said was hosted by Google. The Wall is a place were members post messages for friends.
The link did not take members to Google, which owns Facebook; instead, it took the unsuspecting members to a Web page where they were asked to download a version of Adobe’s Flash Player and view the movie. Once users downloaded the fake version of Flash, the site installed a Trojan horse that channeled code into their PCs.
Nearly 1,000 to 2,000 users followed the link, according to Sophos senior technology consultant Graham Cluely, but it is unclear to Sophos and Facebook just how many of those users downloaded the Trojan horse.
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