How Did My Facebook Get Hacked? - Computers - Software

A reader recently e-mailed me with a detailed query about an apparent Facebook hack. She clicked a link on a familiar message board that launched a video. She was surprised to find that her Facebook photo appeared on the page with the video. She logged out and changed her Facebook password. Facebook support informed her that her account had been accessed from a location that's home to a person who has a grudge against her. Her question was, how could this person have hacked her account, and will her new Norton Internet Security 2011 software prevent future hacking.Facebook-resident MalwareUnfortunately, there are many ways to lose control of your Facebook account. Simple clickjacking attacks can hijack your "Like" ability, driving up stats for specific pages. That's not so bad, but you can also get hit by innovative malware that resides totally on Facebook. With no software installed on your local system, there's nothing for your local antivirus to detect.Symantec researchers demonstrated a reverse-engineered example for me; it was scary. As soon as their "victim" clicked on the link, their "attacker" had full access to the account. Don't worry; this all happened on a virtual system.Social EngineeringEvery time you take a quiz, install a Facebook game, or add any app, you get a screen specifying what permissions the app needs. These permissions can include almost anything up to and including accessing your Facebook account even when you're not logged in. If you don't read these carefully you can wind up giving away your personal information.There's one more possible suspect; the video. Sometimes when you launch a video you get a notification that a new or updated codec is required before you can view the video. This might be true, but quite often the so-called codec is actually a Trojan. An antivirus should block this one.Protect YourselfNorton Safe Web for Facebook is bundled with the Norton security products, but anybody can use it for free. It scans your Facebook page's links and reports any bad ones. BitDefender SafeGo for Facebook rates your profile privacy and checks for dangerous links. If you're concerned about dangerous links (and you should be), installing one of these can definitely help./laptop-battery/dell-inspiron-6400.htm

Facebook keeps working on security internally, but they can't stop you from giving away your personal information in order play a game or take a quiz. A local antivirus won't prevent that mistake either. In the end it's up to you. Pay attention, and if an app asks for too much information just don't install it.

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