Facebook has been targeted by malicious hackers seeking to steal valuable data from members. The social network site has been hit by five separate security problems in the last seven days, say security experts.

By creating fake messages padded with details of Facebook members the thieves are capitalising on the trust and social links that drive the network.  Security firms warn that the popularity of social networking sites makes them a tempting target for hi-tech thieves.

Trust network

"It's been a pretty bad week for social networking in general," said Rik Ferguson, senior security advisor at Trend Micro.

In the last week, said Mr Ferguson, Facebook had been hit by four malicious applications as well as a new variant of the Koobface virus that first targeted members of the social site in December 2008. The rogue applications on Facebook all try to steal saleable information from the profiles of those who open it up, said Mr Ferguson.

One malicious application tried to trick people into adding it by claiming that their friends were having trouble looking at their profile. If the application is added it spams itself to every Facebook friend that a member of the site has. Even as Facebook stamps out one malignant application, it can pop up in another place."

Once installed the malicious program hunts for cookies on a victim's computer and uses the details it finds in the small text files to log into other social sites that person may be a member of. 

Editor's Note:  I have to wonder out loud why they wouldn't be able to log into Twitter as "anyone they want" and wipe out "anyone they want's" prepaid "Twitpay" account. 

Watch for the headline of that particular breach by the end of the year....


Continue Reading at the BBC