Editor’s note: This article was first published in November 2010, and the news it reports was current then. The figure of more than 500 million Facebook users and the types of rogue app described, such as profile-visitor trackers and fake games and gifts, reflect the platform as it was in 2010.
Major antivirus brands such as BitDefender and Norton have warned of the danger that careless use of Facebook poses to the security of our computers and, in some cases, to a company’s network. The greatest danger comes from some of the apps, which users tend to find attractive or eye-catching and which are used to spread malware.
Among the most dangerous apps for users are the ones that claim to tell you who has visited your profile. Rather than telling you who visited your profile, they visit the profiles of all your contacts and then bombard them with spam.
Other apps offer new versions of popular games, gifts such as mobile phones, free gift items for games, a new background for your profile, and so on.
They warn that 20% of Facebook users have at some point picked up some kind of virus through these apps. With Facebook at more than 500 million users, 20% is no small number.
Remember that when you open the social network at work and decide to use it to download one of these apps, you are putting at risk not just all your contacts but your company’s entire computer system.
Social networks offer us many advantages, just as a car does, but as with a car, misusing them can have dire consequences.
Further reading
- Facebook sues Lamebook for trademark infringement
- Facebook buys Drop.io and its founder joins the company
Featured image: Blogtrepreneur, CC BY 2.0, via Flickr.
