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Facebook has always been at the centre of never ending privacy and safety accusations. Just recently, Founder Mark Zuckerburg’s private photos were leaked online due to a glitch. There are many more privacy issues that Facebook has grappled with but the accounts that are hacked by worms/malware are potentially the most dangerous. Security company Seculert has declared that the worm called Ramnit has accessed and compromised more than 45000 Facebook accounts by stealing their login credentials. The worm propagates through ‘Windows’ OS. The agency suspects that the attackers were manually logging onto these compromised accounts and posting malicious/infected links to other facebook users. Once clicked, the worm downloads itself on your Windows machines and infects Windows executables (.exe files), HTML files and the Microsoft Office Suite (including Outlook). This worm thus can propagate itself fast across many machines around the world. Ramnit was an old worm which has been modified to hack Facebook accounts. According to Microsoft, Win32/Ramnit is a family of multi-component malware that infects Windows executable files, Microsoft Office files and HTML files. Win32/Ramnit spreads to removable drives, steals sensitive information such as saved FTP credentials and browser cookies. The malware may also open a backdoor to await instructions from a remote attacker. According to Facebook, they have confirmed that the accounts have been compromised but they have also pointed out that the ‘worm’ is not spreading via Facebook. In their statement, the company spokesman said, “ Our security experts have reviewed the data, and while the majority of the information was out-of-date, we have initiated remedial steps for all affected users to ensure the security of their accounts. Thus far, we have not seen the virus propagating on Facebook itself, but have begun working with our external partners to add protections to our anti-virus systems to help users secure their devices. People can protect themselves by never clicking on strange links and reporting any suspicious activity they encounter on Facebook .” Well, the virus is definitely not spreading through Facebook automatically as the person has to click the ‘infected links’ to allow access to the worm on your computer. So many people had changed their passwords once they saw that something was posting to Facebook as them and hence most of the account info collected by the worm is invalid. Now, the new estimates are that some 20,000 accounts are still hacked. Most of these accounts are from UK and France, so it is safe to say that the worm was deployed in either one of these countries. We advise all of you to check links carefully before clicking them. If you see a suspicious link or a Facebook share, please do not click it. If you follow this, you will be safe from the worm or any other malware. Looking For A Social Media Agency?? – Contact WATConsult – India’s Leading Social Media Agency Related Posts Google Further Increases Position As The Dominant Online Ad Platform Microsoft’s Attempts Again To Gobble-Up Yahoo: Signs Non-Disclosure Agreement Three Musketeers Band Together Against Facebook Skype Adds Video Calling Feature On Facebook; Google+ Are You Listening? Microsoft Unveils Windows Phone 7.1 Mango; Packs In 500 New Features