#1 Trusted Cybersecurity News Platform Followed by 4.50+ million
The Hacker News Logo
Get the Free Newsletter
SaaS Security

facebook scam | Breaking Cybersecurity News | The Hacker News

Scam Alert: Your Trusted Friends Can Hack Your Facebook Account

Scam Alert: Your Trusted Friends Can Hack Your Facebook Account

Oct 13, 2017
If you receive a message from any of your Facebook Friends asking for urgent help to recover their Facebook account, since they've added you as one of their ' Trusted Contacts '—just don't blindly believe it. Researchers have detected a new Facebook phishing scam that can even trick an experienced technical user into falling victim to the scam, helping an attacker gain access to your Facebook account. This latest social media scam is abusing "Trusted Contact"—a Facebook account recovery feature that sends secret access codes to a few of your close friends in order to help you regain access to your Facebook account in case you forget your password or lost access to your account. According to a public security alert published by AccessNow, the attack initiates by an already compromised account of one of your friends, asking for urgent help to get back into his/her Facebook account. The attacker explains that you are listed as one of his/her Trusted Conta
Beware of New Celebrity Sex Tape (Scam) Leaked on Facebook!

Beware of New Celebrity Sex Tape (Scam) Leaked on Facebook!

Dec 12, 2016
If you came across a celebrity sex video on Facebook featuring Jessica Alba or any other celebrity, just avoid clicking it. Another Facebook scam is circulating across the social networking website that attempts to trick Facebook users into clicking on a link for a celebrity sex tape that instead downloads malware onto their computers. Once installed, the malware would force web browsers to display aggressive advertising web pages which include sites with nudity and fake lotteries. The spam campaign was uncovered by researchers at Cyren, who noted that a malicious Google Chrome extension is spreading nude celebrity PDFs through private messages and posts on various Facebook groups. If opened, the PDF file takes victims to a web page with an image containing a play button, tricking users that the PDF may contain a video. Once clicked, the link redirects users of Internet Explorer, Firefox, or Safari to a web page with overly-aggressive popups and advertisements related to
How to Find and Fix Risky Sharing in Google Drive

How to Find and Fix Risky Sharing in Google Drive

Mar 06, 2024Data Security / Cloud Security
Every Google Workspace administrator knows how quickly Google Drive becomes a messy sprawl of loosely shared confidential information. This isn't anyone's fault; it's inevitable as your productivity suite is purposefully designed to enable real-time collaboration – both internally and externally.  For Security & Risk Management teams, the untenable risk of any Google Drive footprint lies in the toxic combinations of sensitive data, excessive permissions, and improper sharing. However, it can be challenging to differentiate between typical business practices and potential risks without fully understanding the context and intent.  Material Security, a company renowned for its innovative method of protecting sensitive data within employee mailboxes, has recently launched  Data Protection for Google Drive  to safeguard the sprawl of confidential information scattered throughout Google Drive with a powerful discovery and remediation toolkit. How Material Security helps organ
Spammers using Facebook Messenger to Spread Locky Ransomware

Spammers using Facebook Messenger to Spread Locky Ransomware

Nov 21, 2016
If you came across any Facebook Message with an image file (exactly .SVG file format) send by any of your Facebook friends, just avoid clicking it. An ongoing Facebook spam campaign is spreading malware downloader among Facebook users by taking advantage of innocent-looking SVG image file to infect computers. If clicked, the file would eventually infect your PC with the nasty Locky Ransomware , a family of malware that has quickly become one of the favorite tools among criminals due to its infecting capabilities. Discovered by malware researcher Bart Blaze , the attack campaign uses Facebook Messenger to spread a malware downloader called Nemucod that takes the form of .SVG image files. Why SVG file? Hackers considered SVG (or Scalable Vector Graphics) files for spreading the malware downloader, because SVG has the ability to contain embedded content such as JavaScript, and can be opened in a modern web browser. Crooks added their malicious JavaScript code right inside th
cyber security

Uncover Critical Gaps in 7 Core Areas of Your Cybersecurity Program

websiteArmor PointCyber Security / Assessment
Turn potential vulnerabilities into strengths. Start evaluating your defenses today. Download the Checklist.
Here's How to Get Facebook New 'Dislike Button' to Your Profile

Here's How to Get Facebook New 'Dislike Button' to Your Profile

Sep 22, 2015
You may call this a misleading headline. Right? Yes, it's True. And I apologize for this. But… ...before someone else tricks you to visit any malicious link with intent to hijack your Computer or to Hack Facebook Profile , I just tricked you to visit this ' WARNING ' article about Facebook Scam of the Dislike button. Facebook Scam: Get Facebook Dislike Button Facebook users are being targeted in a new scam that takes advantage of the recent widely publicized announcement by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg that a ' Facebook Dislike Button ' is in development. Zuckerberg said that there're obvious moments in life or bad fortunes where people do not want to "like" posts and wants to express their empathy. He also confirmed that the social network giant was working on such technology but didn't say that it's actually a " Dislike. " The much-vaunted " Dislike " or "empathy" feature has not rolled out ju
Malware Poses as Flash Update Infects 110,000 Facebook Users within 2 Days

Malware Poses as Flash Update Infects 110,000 Facebook Users within 2 Days

Jan 31, 2015
Facebook users just Beware!! Don't click any porn links on Facebook. Foremost reason is that you have thousands of good porn sites out there, but there's an extra good reason right now. Rogue pornography links on the world's most popular social network have reportedly infected over 110,000 Facebook users with a malware Trojan in just two days and it is still on the rise, a security researcher warned Friday. The Facebook malware disguised as a Flash Player update and spreads itself by posting links to a pornographic video from the Facebook accounts of previously infected users. The malware generally tags as many as 20 friends of the infected user . "In the new technique, which we call it ' Magnet ,' the malware gets more visibility to potential victims by tagging the friends of the victim in the malicious post," said Mohammad Faghani, a senior consultant at PricewaterhouseCoopers, in a mailing list post to the Full Disclosure infosec hangout.  "A tag may
AirAsia Indonesia Flight QZ 8501 : Cyber Criminals use missing Flight QZ 8501 mystery as Bait

AirAsia Indonesia Flight QZ 8501 : Cyber Criminals use missing Flight QZ 8501 mystery as Bait

Dec 28, 2015
After the Mysterious Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 incident in March 2014 and the shooting of Malaysia Airline Flight MH17 by a ground-to-air missile in July 2014, yesterday AirAsia flight QZ 8501 with 162 people on board found missing by the time it flew from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore after losing contact with air traffic control due to weather, the airline company said Sunday. Since, cybercriminals are known to take advantage of every major incident and any occasion that captures public attention – regardless of how sensitive – comes out to be an opportunity for spammers and hackers to snatch users' personal information and spread malware, and the tragedy of the Missing AirAsia flight QZ 8501 is no exception. Cyber criminals are exploiting the disappearance of Indonesia AirAsia flight QZ 8501 by luring users to websites purporting to offer the latest news in order to steal their personal information. Our team has spotted some posts on social media
'Facebook To Begin Charging Users $2.99 / Month' — Totally BULLSHIT!

'Facebook To Begin Charging Users $2.99 / Month' — Totally BULLSHIT!

Sep 23, 2014
Facebook going to charge users per month?? Nobody expected such a news story this week, but it seems that Facebook will No longer be a Free Service, according to reports claimed by the National Report , " Facebook To Begin Charging Users $2.99/mo Starting November 1st ", which turns out fake. Thank God !! This new report is circulating via social media which claims that the social networking giant will begin charging charging $2.99 (€2.33) per month for each user starting November 1, 2014 in an effort to fight against the rising costs the company is facing. Of course, the claims are simply untrue. Facebook has not announced any such plans to begin charging its users a monthly fee for access to the regular site services that has more than 1.3 billion monthly users. NICELY FRAMED HOAX The report comes via the 'satirical' fake-news website , which is a complete Hoax, just like many similar ' Facebook to start charging ' hoaxes before it. But Wh
Win Apple's iPhone 6 For Free – A New Facebook Scam

Win Apple's iPhone 6 For Free – A New Facebook Scam

Sep 17, 2014
Apple's iPhone 6 FREE ? Of course not ! It's only a hoax, but scammers have announced the just release iPhone 6 free. Another Facebook scam is circulating across the popular social networking website just days after Apple unveiled its upcoming iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, as scammers take advantage of all the hype and use them to lure Facebook users. THREE SIMPLE STEPS AND iPHONE 6 IS YOURS — REALLY? As usual, This new scam promises a chance to Win a free iPhone 6 to those users who complete a series of steps, as reported by Hoax-Slayer. You just need to go through "three easy steps" to get a chance to win the device: Like the Facebook page created to propagate the scam Share the page with your Facebook friends Download a "Participation Application" But before you proceed to the last step, a pop-up window leads you to participate in a survey before you can download the application. The survey will ask you to share your name, address, p
Sick Facebook Scammers Exploit Robin Williams' Suicide

Sick Facebook Scammers Exploit Robin Williams' Suicide

Aug 16, 2014
Scammers spare no incident to target as many victims as possible, and this time they are exploiting the tragic death of comic actor Robin Williams by offering the fake Facebook videos proclaiming a Goodbye video message that Williams made before his death. According to Symantec, this fake Facebook post, which you may see on your walls shared by your Facebook friends, was created by scammers looking to profit on the actor's death. The bogus post claims to be a Goodbye video of Robin Williams making his last phone call before committing suicide earlier this week. Scammers and cyber criminals often use major headline news stories to lure in victims. You may fall victim to this video as the news claims to have come from the most popular and reputed BBC News website. " There is no video. Users that click on the link to the supposed video are taken to a fake BBC News website. As with many social scams, users are required to perform actions before they can view the content. In t
Facebook Takes Down Bitcoin Stealing Botnet that Infected 250,000 Computers

Facebook Takes Down Bitcoin Stealing Botnet that Infected 250,000 Computers

Jul 09, 2014
Once again Facebook is on The Hacker News ! This time not for any scam or surveillance, but for a different reason.  The social networking giant has managed to take down a Greek botnet that used Facebook to spread malware and infected 250,000 computers to mine crypto-currencies, steal bitcoins, email passwords and banking details. Facebook is always one of the favourite weapon of cyber criminals, cyber thieves and scammers due to its popularity among other social media platforms. This social networking platform, with more than one billion active users, provides special opportunities for people to connect and share information, as well as also serves a great platform for malware developers and scammers. The botnet, dubbed as Lecpetex , was around from December 2013 to last month and compromised around 50,000 Facebook accounts at its peak, under which users would receive spam Facebook messages that would typically like "lol" with a zip archive attachment . O
Tracy Morgan Dead? Facebook Scam Targeting Users with Malware

Tracy Morgan Dead? Facebook Scam Targeting Users with Malware

Jun 28, 2014
Oh MY God! Is Tracy Morgan Really Dead? NO, Thankfully it's only a hoax, but scammers announced the popular comedian and actor Tracy Morgan dead. Another Facebook scam is circulating across the social networking website just a day before the former " Saturday Night Live " and " 30 Rock " star Tracy Morgan was critically hurt in a six-vehicle fatal accident on the New Jersey Turnpike that killed his friend and writer 62-year-old James McNair. With the rise in various scams on the popular social networking giant, Facebook that has more than one billion active users, it became very clear that not only does the social networking platform provide special opportunities for people to connect and share information, but serves as a great platform for scammers as well. TOTAL SCAM LEADS TO MALWARE Scammers spare no incident to target as many victims as possible, and this time they made use of this roadway accident to target users by spreading the fake Facebook videos proclaimin
Real Ghost Caught on Camera! New Facebook Scams Lure Users to Download Malware

Real Ghost Caught on Camera! New Facebook Scams Lure Users to Download Malware

May 10, 2014
If your Facebook wall offers you any horror videos that claim to be of a real ghost spotted, don't dare to click on them, as it may be hoaxes, malwares or scams contained within which are the real horror for the online users. We have seen a lot of Facebook scams spreading through the Facebook timeline in wild that encourages users to click on it and fall victim, and this time some new horror scam campaign is going viral on Facebook. Christopher Boyd from the security firm Malwarebytes has discovered an epidemic of hoaxes making their way around Facebook with paranormal themes, including: Alleged footage of an "actual" ghost attack a video featuring the Aswang that is described as "a mythical shape-shifting were-dog/vampire/terrifying thing from the Philippines" a video of Mermaids claiming they are back! Video of a huge great white shark tearing apart a sea captain. Facebook has become one of the most popular social networking website with more than one billion
SCAMMYY! Mark Zuckerberg Can Deactivate Your Facebook Account Anytime

SCAMMYY! Mark Zuckerberg Can Deactivate Your Facebook Account Anytime

May 06, 2014
If you see any wall post or inbox message -- saying, " Warning!!! Facebook Security Warning!!! Do this before your account gets deactivated! ," and urges you to follow some steps to reactivate your Facebook account, then just ignore it; It's a Facebook Scam! Facebook has become one of the most popular website with more than one billion active users this year. Hundreds of people join the social networking website to reconnect with their old friends and get a chance to make new friends. But, with the increase in various scams on Facebook to target users, it became very clear that not only does the social networking platform provide special opportunities for people to connect and share information; it also serves as a great and useful platform for scammers. Once again scammers have targeted Facebook users by spreading new kind of scam that threatens users with account deactivation if they don't register it again. " Attention : to all facebook users Your
Cybersecurity Resources