Facebook Spam Attack

According to Graham Cluley, a consultant with Web security firm Sophos, said that “explicit and violent” images included not just hardcore porn but photoshopped images of celebrities, including teen pop star Justin Bieber, in sexual positions; “extreme violence;” and at least one image of an abused dog. Oh, was there a naked grandma as well?

Labeling them as spams took time as I had to do it one by one. I had the feeling that friends on my list were clicking the links from their walls and unknowing to them, the links with offensive content will be shared to their friends’ walls. With friends numbering to over 2000, imagine how many times I have to delete each popping porn-and-gore spam.

According to USA Today:

At the center of these sort of attacks is a technique called clickjacking. These fake links pose as regular Facebook posts, often coming from friends we would normally trust to only post good links. When clicked, a JavaScript command is executed, causing a user’s computer to perform a program that spreads the link even farther.

These posts can do more than spread on Facebook. They often come armed with malware, which is dropped on the user’s computer when clicked.

Malware can often perform other dangerous tasks on our computers such as gaining access to our personal information and passwords.

Who perpetrated the attack? Facebook did not comment on the people responsible for it.

Just this week, posts around Facebook have been circulated that the Filipinos were behind the spam links and pornographic materials.

Mark Zuckerberg – CEO of Facebook released an online statement regarding the spreading porn pics and spams. Released November 16, 2011 9PM Pacific Time Zone.

The porn attacks originated in the Philippines and are being published by Filipinos all over Facebook, our experts here at Facebook are doing everything they can to stop it from spreading any further (outside the Philippines) and to eliminate the porn and spam threat completely which have been causing other Facebook users ‘a hard time’. Filipinos should also be vigilant and report any spam links and pornographic materials. 41% of Facebook members around the world are aged 12-17 years old, we cannot be exposed to this kinds of things through Facebook. If this continues and more spams keep being posted, we will have no choice but to ban Philippine users from using Facebook. We at Facebook will not tolerate outlandish behavior and indecency.

Please be reminded that this has to stop, Filipinos!

But this message is a complete hoax. Mark Zuckerberg has made no such statement.

PCWorld reported that Facebook already identified the attackers but they never divulged the name/s.

In a statement released to media outlets, Facebook said that its dedicated enforcement team “has already identified those responsible and is working with our legal team to ensure appropriate consequences follow.”

If indeed the attack originated from the Philippines, I don’t think Mark Zuckerberg will foolishly ban the entire country from using the social network and lose over 23 million Filipino users. The Philippines is at no. 7 in terms of the most number of FB users (23,446,700 as of April 2011) among over 200 countries.

So to those who ever read the hoax message, please do not repost it. The problem is, there are so many ignorant (sorry for the word) Filipinos who don’t do a quick search first and instead easily reposting the message on their walls. This of course could lead to alarm and unfair blame.

Please DO NOT REPOST THE FAKE MESSAGE! Instead, post how your friends could get rid of the spams.

I don’t think Facebook has completely eliminated the issue. I just saw one naked lady on my FB wall this morning.

If in case you get the porno pictures, click the arrow to the right of the post and choose “report story or spam.” Let Facebook know about it.

And one last thing, never ever click a link or a picture when in doubt — even if it comes from a friend. If you can’t help it, private message your friend first and clarify the validity of the link or picture. It is better to be safe than be a sorry victim of a spam.

Most Number of Facebook Users

I was tempted to produce a map showing Facebook users in the United States by States after seeing someone posted a map of the world in terms of Twitter users. Here are my results based on the Facebook Usage Statistics for August 31, 2010.

California leads the number of users with 16,673,720, followed by Texas with 10,685,000. It is expected to see the most populated States to have the most number of Facebook users.

However, when you plot the percent of FB penetration per State (no. of FB users/no. of State population), you get a different story. Washington is first with 58%, followed by Illinois with 55%, and Rhode Island is third with 53%. These three States are the only ones that have more than 50% Facebook penetration. Texas has only 43%, while California has 45%.

Percent Facebook Penetration Per State

When will Facebook completely dominate the United States? It will be sooner than later.

Related: Philippines Facebook Statistics is Shocking
[Data source]

In few of the forums I read online, it says that “Facebook does not provide any official tools to find out the older posts, and there is no any better shortcut to see your older posts very quickly.” So how will you search old Facebook wall posts and status updates? Use some apps and tricks!

Here are solutions I found:

1. Eliminate the constant pressing of the “older posts” arrow.

- Sign in to your account and go to your wall.
- Below is a Java script. Copy and paste it on the address bar and hit enter. This script will automatically press the “Older Posts” button every four seconds, displaying your older posts. When you see the old status you want, click the “X” button on your browser.

javascript:function showMore() {ProfileStream.getInstance().showMore(); setTimeout(showMore, 4000)} showMore();

Note: You can change the number “4000″ to, for instance “1000″, depending on how far you would want to search.

2. Another option is to use a Facebook app to export and see all your old Facebook statuses.

- Search “Export my status updates” on Facebook or click here. Grant the permission for the app to work. Once you have given the application the right permission, a CSV file will be downloaded. The saved file [via] will look like this.

Now that looks like a Facebook diary!

3. Try also “My status history” app. Others have been successful in downloading their old status updates. Here is the link to the fan page.

4. Here is another one – Archivedbook. I haven’t tried it, but based on user comments, the app works. Archivedbook features include:

* Surf old wall posts and status messages posted on the wall.
* Check the number of likes and comments posted on profiles.

Try the methods. Tell me if they work for you. Ciao.

[source 1, source 2]

Watch the video after the jump.

When you add someone you have not seen for many years, what do you usually do afterward – say, few seconds after adding?

1. Do you check the profile to see if she or he is already married? (if both of you are still single at an age perfect for tying the knot, who knows, something might spark between you two)

2. Do you look at the photos to see how the person have changed over the years? (Oh, she has become horizontally-challenged! What happened to the curves?!)

3. Do you check the person’s present residence? (others may have moved out of the country or maybe even traveled in space)

4. Do you check the person’s accomplishments from those years you have lost touch? (most often people change career paths – from engineering to nursing, from medical field to theater)

5. Do you open the person’s list of friends to see who are in there that you might have known too and not on your list yet? (friends find friends from friends, you know)

6. Do you leave the person a message on the wall with a note “how happy I am to find you here”? (I usually do this for very close friends)

What about if you will add someone you’ve just met or known? Do you check and read the full profile of the person? Or do you ever bother?

I have encountered so many instances when friends ask me questions that are already in my profile. Most of the time, I don’t care when friends inquire stuff that I already laid out for them and for the public to read. But there are just times that I wish they could have taken a quick peek first.

I made quite a number of friends in Facebook and the list will continue to grow for sure. It might double next year or maybe even triple in number. I will be happy whatever the number is. The more friends is on my list, the merrier will my FB wall become.