According to trusted antivirus vendor Sophos, there’s a rogue Facebook application, posing as an app that claims to reveal a way to see who’s been secretly viewing your profile.
It’s a scam. And it’s spreading rapidly. It posts messages on your wall and tries to get you to visit a spam site. Don’t fall for it, but if you already have, delete the fake messages it posts.
Here’s a real app I want you to install instead: Safego.
I installed Safego tonight. It’s been available for about a month, but not many people are talking about it. Installation is straightforward. I clicked through, gave it permission to look at my account–you can’t scan what you can’t see–and let it run. It came back saying I had no infections, and that my privacy level is good.
So I clicked the button that says Start PC Scan. It tried to add a Firefox addon, which it blocked until I gave permission. Then it wanted to restart Firefox, so I let it. Firefox recovered, as always. I went back clicked the PC Scan button, and this time it ran. It looked like it checked out the common web browser directories and looked for rootkits. It ran in 52 seconds. I have a slow computer with a relatively fast SSD, so your results will vary. It’s no substitute for antivirus software installed locally on your computer, but it’s fine for a quick second opinion on the stuff that something running from Facebook is most likely to be able to infect.
And now, on my Facebook page, I have a link to Bit Defender safego on the left-hand side. So I can click on it and check my safety status at any time. I understand it does some real-time scanning anyway, even without me doing anything.
And in the event that it does find something, it gives you a button or buttons you can press to warn your infected friend(s).
This Facebook app isn’t all that widely known yet. But the time is certainly right for it, and I recommend it. If you’re on Facebook, go get it. Now. Please.
David Farquhar is a computer security professional, entrepreneur, and author. He started his career as a part-time computer technician in 1994, worked his way up to system administrator by 1997, and has specialized in vulnerability management since 2013. He invests in real estate on the side and his hobbies include O gauge trains, baseball cards, and retro computers and video games. A University of Missouri graduate, he holds CISSP and Security+ certifications. He lives in St. Louis with his family.
There are a couple of other scams going around right now too. There’s the spider under the skin video, which Facebook seems to have intervened directly and eradicated, and now several Amy Winehouse-related videos are going around. Frankly, I’m not sure I’d look at any video at all off a Facebook link right now. But by all means get Bitdefender Safego up and running.