A newish virus is spreading using Facebook called the ‘koobface’ virus. Here are some details:
http://news.cnet.com/koobface-virus-hits-facebook/
What can you do? Right now, as you read this, infected or not, change your password. If your password is in the dictionary, you are going to be hacked, period. Your password should include numbers, letters, uppercase, lowercase, and even punctuation. It should mean something to you, but be literally impossible to guess. And again, if it’s a word in the dictionary, all lowercase, it is not impossible to guess.
If you have seen any weird behaviour on your Windows PC, or have ever gotten confusing replies from your friends on Facebook replying to messages you never sent, they’ve probably already got you. You can scan your computer (using ClamWin, AVG Free, Avast, Windows Defender, and/or Spybot S&D, all free), but if you’ve been infected, the best thing you can do is make sure you have a backup of your documents, pictures, movies, and personal files, and format your machine and reinstall Windows.
This brings up a very important lesson in security. If people act securely, this virus could never spread. What do I mean?
1.) You should never open an email attachment you didn’t expect to receive, even if it’s from someone you know. (A virus will usually come from someone you know, actually. They send to contacts in address books in order to play on trust. Most people know not to accept them from strangers.)
2.) You should never click a link in an email (or Facebook message). Never. Even if the link says www.yahoo.com, it can actually be taking you to www.yahoo1.com, which can then steal your computer’s soul. If it’s from your bank, go to your browser manually and type the bank address by hand.
3.) Don’t have an easy password.
‘But my computer is fine!’ you may say. But viruses and worms and trojans don’t do what they once did. Most of them have no intention of crashing your computer in a Simpson’s-esque “ha-ha!” moment. Nowadays, their goal is to get your computer to listen to their commands. Then, they can get 10,000 computers waiting to do what they’re told. Like, for example, attacking a bank. Or any number of other illegal activities.
And I should add that while this ‘koobface’ virus is only on Windows at the moment, there is nothing to say it will stay there. Irresponsible behaviour online is asking for problems, whether you have a Mac, a PC, or Linux.
(And change your password on Facebook! Now!)
Links mentioned above:
- http://news.cnet.com/koobface-virus-hits-facebook/ (The article about the virus)
- http://www.facebook.com/security (Facebook security advice)
- http://www.avast.com/ (Free Antivirus)
- http://www.clamwin.com/ (Free Antivirus)
- http://free.avg.com/download-avg-anti-virus-free-edition (Free Antivirus)
- http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/defender/default.mspx (Free AntiSpyware)
- http://www.safer-networking.org/en/spybotsd/index.html (Free AntiSpyware)
