The Facebook Virus Spreads: No Social Network is Safe

"Koobface" is the name of the Trojan worm that's been making its way through the social networking site Facebook lately, but to the site's users, it's been simply known as "the Facebook virus." That name will soon become a misnomer, though, because the worm is now spreading outside of Facebook's walls to attack other social networks like Bebo, MySpace, Friendster, MyYearbook, and Blackplanet.

Social Networks Will Be the New Breeding Ground for Viruses
What's frightening about the spread of this Trojan is not the worm itself - it's really nothing new in terms of malware - but the way its being spread. Over the years people have learned to be suspicious of unknown links and attachments in their emails, so the virus writers turned to hit us where we're more vulnerable: on our social networks. Here, many people still have a feeling of comfort and security. They don't always have their guard up.

About Koobface
Koobface spreads by delivering Facebook messages to people that are 'friends' of someone on Facebook whose computer has already been infected. The messages contain innocuous subject headers such as "Paris Hilton Tosses Dwarf On The Street", "LOL", and "My friend catched (sic) you on hidden cam". Upon receipt, the message directs the recipients to a third-party website unaffiliated with Facebook where they are prompted to download what is purported to be an update of the Adobe Flash player. If they download the file, they will infect their computer with Koobface. Koobface then commandeers their surfing activities and directs users to contaminated websites when they attempt to access search engines from Google, Yahoo, MSN and Live.com.
It should be noted that Koobface is an anagram of Facebook; "face" and "book" change order and "koob" is "book" in reverse.
Two variants of the virus have been identified: Net-Worm.Win32.Koobface.a, which attacks Myspace and Net-Worm.Win32.Koobface.b, which attacks Facebook.



How To Protect Yourself From Koobface
Besides doing the obvious - running an up-to-date antivirus, security patches, and firewall - You should also keep an eye on Facebook's security page (http://www.facebook.com/security) which warns of the latest threats.


In the mean time, the best way to avoid Koobface is to adhere to the tried and true rule of internet safety: never open unexpected e-mail attachments, videos or other links, even if they are from someone you know.
Should your PC be infected the Koobface worm, the Facebook security blog suggests resetting your password and running updated anti-virus software to purge the worm from your system.

Manual Koobface Removal Guide are availble HERE