Facebook and Koobface

Yesterday, I read two status update post on Facebook that stated that people need to "BEWARE" of a new virus and that it is, quote, "attacking peoples computers and hacking their accounts".

This virus they are talking about is called Koobface, but it is not new. Last year, this Trojan virus made itself known and started doing its damage. But, the big thing that these warnings on the status updates don't mention (and this goes for ALL viruses and anything malicious) is that as long as you keep your computer up-to-date, anti virus software up-to-date (yes, even on a Mac), do not visit any sites that appear suspicious, you do not open any e-mail attachments from people you do not know... and you change your user account to Limited (not Administrator) you should be fine.

One way people are being infected on Facebook is when...
1) One users computer is infected and then their FB account has been infected and it goes out and post comments on their friends pages about, for example, "Hey, I have a funny video of you. Click here to see it...";
2) The friend(s) click on the link, and the website says that your version of Adobe Flash (or any web video player ) is outdated and would like you to update it before you can see such "video";
3) Friend download and installs file. Turns out, it is a Trojan and it starts to do damage to your computer.

Usually, these updates automatically update themselves in the background. But if you ever need an update to the following, here is a list of major plug-ins you use on your web browser everyday.

Adobe Reader http://www.adobe.com/go/EN_US-H-GET-READER
Adobe Flash http://www.adobe.com/go/EN_US-H-GET-FLASH
Java http://www.java.com
QuickTime http://www.apple.com/quicktime/

One major myth is that you are safe on a Macintosh and that you can not be infected on a Mac. This is FALSE. If the user follows my advice above, any computer can remain clean... Just like a PC. It's when you allow this software to be installed that your Mac computer can be infected. It is true that there are more viruses/worms for PC's, but there still are virus/worms for Macs...

So please, always use your computer safely.