by Anthony Cosenza II

Created on: December 13, 2008   Last Updated: October 27, 2011

This holiday season, as you worry about things such as the flu and stomach bugs, there is another virus to be worried about, and it is one infecting your computers. The name is this virus is Koobface and the target is the millions of users of the popular web community Facebook. Once Koobface infects your computer it will attempt to steal sensitive information that you may have stored such as credit card numbers, and bank account numbers.

The worm, as it is called, is spread through the accounts of people you are already friends with. Those friends become infected and their accounts are hijacked by the Koobface virus. The virus then sends messages to all the friends of the account, using the private message system that Facebook has set up. The subject of the message is usually something telling you that you have been caught on a funny video, or that you have to see the video that they have found of you. The message will contain a link to the video and when you click on the link it will take you to a page that informs you that must update your Flash player. Once you click to update the player, you are also then infected.

Protecting yourself against the Koobface worm is fairly easy as long as you use safe internet practices. Do not click on links inside of messages that tell you that there is a video of you, even if the message is from a friend. If you think it is a legitimate message, contact the sender via telephone to be sure the video is real and and to notify them they may have been infected. Facebook is also aware of the situation and is working to remove the virus from the website. The Facebook security page (www.facebook.com/security) says that if you are already infected with the Koobface virus that you should reset your Facebook password and to use a virus scan service to scan your computer. The Facebook security page lists several free virus scanners, such as those from McAfee (http://us.mcafee.com/root/mfs/scan.asp?affid=56), Symantec (http://security.symantec.com), and Kaspersky (http://kaspersky.com/virusscanner). The Facebook Security website (www.facebok.com/security) also lists other free virus scan options in the helpful links section.

Remember, use common sense as well as safe internet practices and you should be safe this holiday season from the Koobface virus.

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