Oh Facebook, why?

Let me first start out by saying I obviously can't read a calendar. TODAY is the Saturday to change your clocks, not the 14th like I told you in yesterday's post, Change. I changed it though. :)

Now on to Facebook. The social networking program has seen five different security threats in the past week.

These hoax applications attempt to trick Facebook members into divulging their usernames and passwords. And there is a worm running rampant on the site, installing malware on the computers of victims who click on a link to a fake YouTube video. It's called the Koobface worm.

According to a Yahoo news story, the Koobface worm searches for cookies on your computer, then makes a DNS query to check IP addresses that correspond to remote domains. They can then send and receive information about the affected machine. Once connected, they can remotely perform commands on the victim's machine.

Then the Koobface worm composes a message and sends it to the user's friends. The message contains a link to a website where a copy of the worm can be downloaded by unsuspecting friends. And the cycle repeats itself.

How crazy is that? Some people just have too much time on their hands. Combine that with a malicious attitude and you have trouble. Trouble for you. And trouble for your PC. My advice? Don't play on Facebook... No. I'm just kidding. Just be careful about how you play and pay attention. If something doesn't look right, get out of there. Never enter your password unless it's the normal log in screen. There is no place, no application, no "extra" on Facebook that requires you to reenter your username and password. I promise. I'm there all the time.

As far as the fake YouTube video link, don't click on any links unless you are 100% positive about where they originated. My PC is loaded down with anti-spyware programs that won't allow me to visit links until they've been scanned and approved. It definitely slows my computer down but, to me, it's better to be safe than sorry. Today's news reaffirmed that.