FBI Warns About Facebook Virus

Posted by on Jul 30, 2008 | 7 Comments

The FBI is warning consumers about a Facebook virus that is being spread via email, that is in fact a bug. The warning also states that if you are the victim of such an attack, you can file a complaint with the Internet Crime Complaint Center, linked in their press release. It also states:

 Storm Worm Virus

Be on the lookout for spam e-mails spreading the Storm Worm malicious software (malware) which mention “F.B.I. vs. facebook”. The e-mail directs the recipient to click on a link to view an article about the  FBI and Facebook. Once the user clicks on the link, malware is downloadedto the Internet connected device and causes it to become infected and become part of the Storm Worm botnet. A botnet is a network of compromised machines under the control of a single user. Botnets are typically set up to facilitate criminal activity such as spam e-mail, identity theft, denial of service attacks, and spreading malware to other machines on the Internet.

The Storm Worm virus has capitalized on various holidays and fictitious world events in the last year by sending millions of e-mails advertising an e-card link within the text of the spam e-mail.

Be wary of any e-mail received from an unknown sender. Do not open any unsolicited e-mail and do not click on any links provided.

If you are become a victim, you can file a complaint here:  www.IC3.gov

Comments welcome.

  • leftystrat

    Once again I state: If you stop clicking on everything you receive, you won’t get the virus.

    The great majority of email virii require the recipient to DO something to activate it.

    Good luck and safe computing.

  • Ron Stahl

    Thank you for this information.

    Although I’m not a facebook user this is still nice to know.

    However, what I’d REALLY like to know Is if there’s any way of seeing if my machine is infected and if so, how can I remove it?

  • http://wp3.lockergnome.com/nexus/blade/ Ron Schenone

    Any good A/V program can find and remove it.

    Here is a online scanner. You need IE to scan.

    http://www.bitdefender.com/scan8/#

  • Anonymous

    The recently added ‘Questions’ feature is kinda cool and all, but when people start adding more and more answers so it fills up all 99 slots it slows my internet connection down to almost crashing. I’m not the only one either that this happens to. They need to redesign it so that the question pops up on a different page, like when a status starts getting too many comments to view on the wall alone, instead of a pop-up window.

  • http://unitedtechguys.com/ Brad Merrill

    Great list. These are all things I hope to NEVER see on Facebook.

  • http://www.facebook.com/crazyaaron84 Aaron Henderson

    well the last one i would like to see, a dislike button… also anti-hacker security protection but neither are going to happen…
    i mean youtube has a dislike button but facebook is too good to be like other sites apparently

  • http://alekz.tumblr.com Alekz

    I agree that the Dislike button will only generate negative experiences. It’s one of those things people think they would love to use but don’t think about the real consequences.