Facebook, the biggest social network
with 500 million users, provides an interface to hit an unsuspecting
crowd with malware and viruses. These viruses aren’t very difficult to
detect if you are cautious enough. These Facebook viruses appear on
your wall in forms of a bizarre or eye-catching stories and videos and
once the user has clicked/liked the link, it is already late. The next
step will be getting rid of your Facebook virus which is a
time-consuming process. Its better to avoid spam messages and trojan
viruses in the first place.
How to avoid it?
1. Think before you Act.
Viruses on Facebook are sneaky. The hackers and cybercriminals who
want your information know that Facebook users will often click on an
interesting post without a moment’s thought. If a post sounds a bit
over-the-top like a headline out of a tabloid, this is your first
warning sign.
2. Try to avoid Links and videos
with Catchy words like “funniest ever,” “most hilarious video on
Facebook,” or “you’ve got to see this.” Do some keyword
research to see if the post in question comes up in a search engine
with information about a current virus or trojan.
3. Check the poster of the Suspicious content.
If you receive a message from someone you do not know, this is an
obvious red flag. Facebook video viruses also tend to pop up in your
news feed or on your wall from friends you haven’t talked to in a
while. Unfortunately, it’s likely this friend has already fallen victim
to the latest virus on Facebook. After clicking on the story
themselves, the message was sent out to all of their friends as well.
4 Avoid messages that have been posted by multiple users
as the virus spreads among your friends who were not so cautious. If a
link with title such as “Sexiest video ever” shows up all over your
feed from all kinds of people (perhaps friends you would not expect to
make such a post), this is another warning sign. Similar direct
messages are a likely variant of the notorious Facebook Koobface virus
which has used this approach in the past.
5. Do not fall for the “typical” money-transfer schemes.
Chat messages from friends needing funds will usually sound
suspicious. Everything can’t be screened before posting, so money
transfer scams and hoax applications still find their way on to
Facebook. You should also avoid applications that claim to do a full
“Error check” or fix security problems related to your profile.
6. Update your anti-virus software frequently.
If you do accidentally click on a post before realizing it is a hoax,
do not click on any further links or downloads. If it’s too late and
you have already been infected, the Facebook virus removal process may
be effortless if you have a good anti-virus program to catch the virus,
trojan or other malware early on.
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