Dec 5, 2008 12:00 pm US/Eastern
'Koobface' Virus Makes Its Way Around Facebook
PALO ALTO, Calif. (CBS) ―
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Facebook.
Chris Jackson/Getty Images
A new bug is making its way around the popular social networking site Facebook. The virus is called "Koobface," and is wreaking havoc among some of the site's 120 million users.
The virus hooks users by appearing to be an email from a friend, with a breezy message telling you to click on a video. Instead, it can take over your computer and steal your personal information.
"It's another wake up call to be careful where you surf, be careful what you answer, what you click on, and know who your friends are," said Dan Needles of Internetnews.com.
Needles said hackers are constantly playing a cat and mouse game with websites' security. Still, he said, "These companies can always do more to proactively protect the users…It still shouldn't be up to us, right, to be careful where we go, every which way. It would be a much better world if we could just do what we want to do on these sites and have a high level of security."
Facebook spokesperson Barry Schnitt told CNET: "Only a very small percentage of Facebook users have been affected and we're working quickly to update our security system to minimize any further impact..."
Facebook has also
posted instructions on how to deal with the problem. Meanwhile, some infected users have also sent emails telling their friends not to click on anything they've sent them.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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