Twitter Facebook & Myspace Virus Malware; Social Media Sickness

A lot of people are reporting different types of viruses and malware being spread around on social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace and even Twitter. Here we will attempt go over some of the more common ones being reported recently…

While on MySpace or Facebook you may get a message similar to this, “Oh my god! Someone sent me a video of you at that party you went to a while back. I cannot believe you were doing that! Were you drunk or high or something? LOL… If you want to see the video, I took the liberty of uploading it for you. You can download and watch it from this link HERE.” If you get an email or a private message like that, beware!! It very well may be a new type of virus targeting social networking sites these days. The virus is being referred to as ‘The Koobface Virus‘ and normally will be sent to you via email or personal message on these sites. If you fall for this trick and happen to attempt to play the so called video you will normally get a message saying that your version of Flash player is out of date and needs to be updated before you can actually watch the video. This is where the virus gets you. If you choose to go ahead and update your Flash player you will be asked to download a file something like ‘flash_player.exe‘ or ‘flash_update.exe‘. Once you run this file it will allow your computer to be used as a zombie PC which is normally used to make botnets. It will basically allow your computer to be used by other people without your knowledge to do all sorts of illegal activity. It may also take your search engine submissions and route them to other affiliate search sites. This way if someone buys something from one of these affiliate search sites, the person who created the virus will make money off of each sale. The virus will try to start up with your computer every time you turn it on. Most of the bigger AntiVirus programs have already identified this new threat and updated their virus definitions to detect and clean it. However if you happen to fall victim of this new virus the best thing you can do is to get some good AntiVirus Software and scan & clean your entire PC. Then it would be a wise decision to change your Facebook and MySpace passwords as well…

Another new threat that is appearing all over the Internet and now on most social networking sites are pop-up boxes that look very similar to what antivirus alerts look like. These normally will say something to the effect that it has detected a dangerous virus or security issue on your computer which needs to be fixed immediately. It will normally ask if you would like to fix it now and if you click yes it will direct you to a site where you can download so-called specialized software to remove the virus or threat from your computer. Sometimes it will want you to pay for some type of antivirus software or offer a free one to you. Keep in mind that this is all a type of scam to scare you into thinking you have a dangerous virus even though you do not. However if you do install the software they are offering you, 9 times out of 10 the program is completely worthless or fake and you will be downloading a program loaded with viruses or malware from them. Hence the real trouble begins…

Even Twitter is susceptible to malware, viruses and types of threats these days. The newest one to hit Twitter is called “StalkDaily“. Infected computers will auto tweet messages to all of your followers. The messages normally say something like this, “Hi. You should check out StalkDaily.com. It is a site similar to Twitter but with videos, pictures and a lot more.” It has also been known to disallow you access to your own Twitter account if you are infected. Once someone visits StalkDaily.com the site automatically attempts to infect you and your Twitter profile. Apparently you can even become infected by clicking on infected user’s profiles now. For instance numerous people have reported that by clicking on the Twitter account of a user called GangsterBoy, they also became infected. The Twitter spam team is aware of StalkDaily and is currently working on ways to shut down the virus. If you think you may be infected there are a few things you should do. First of all you should log out of and external Twitter applications you may be using such as TweetDeck. The second thing you should do is to clear your browser cache and all your cookies. In IE you can do this under Tools / Internet Options / General / Browsing history / Delete (check Temporary Internet Files and Cookies then click Delete at the bottom). In Firefox you can do this under Tools / Clear Recent History (checks Cookies and Cache then click Clear Now at the bottom). The third thing you should do is to change or reset your password on Twitter. The last thing is after logging back into your Twitter account you should go through and delete any and all tweets that were sent to you that have anything to do with StalkDaily or StalkDaily.com…

With all the new threats out there even some of the most popular sites can seem like scary places to visit. However there is no need to avoid these places as long as you are smart about what you download and what links you click on. Here are a few other simple things you should do to avoid becoming infected. If you are using Windows, always make sure to download and install all the latest updates and patches from the Microsoft Update site (http://www.update.microsoft.com). Another thing you should always do is to turn on your Microsoft Firewall (http://www.microsoft.com/security/firewalls/faq.aspx). Lastly it is always wise to install a good antivirus program on your computer before braving the Internet. There are even some good free ones out there that have great reviews and will help keep your computer clean from infection.

2 Comments on Twitter Facebook & Myspace Virus Malware; Social Media Sickness

uberVU - social comments on Mon, 5th Apr 2010 7:36 am


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This post was mentioned on Twitter by sscommerce_com: New blog post: Twitter Facebook & Myspace Virus Malware; Social Media Sickness http://bit.ly/du7ELs…

Tweets that mention Twitter Facebook & Myspace Virus Malware Protection | SSCommerce -- Topsy.com on Mon, 5th Apr 2010 3:00 pm


[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by vaibhav mayee, Marcoss, nagpur rocker, Funearn.com, George Lucas and others. George Lucas said: RT @sscommerce_com: New blog post: Twitter Facebook & Myspace Virus Malware; Social Media Sickness http://bit.ly/du7ELs [...]

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