Warning

WARNING to all my Facebook friends: Beware of Social Engineering attacks that can compromise you, your friends, your co-workers, and your family.

Be especially cautious of “friending” people on Facebook who YOU DON’T KNOW PERSONALLY. This recently happened to me, but I recognized the attack when it came, and I’m now trying to alert all my friends… that YOU may be targeted by the same attacker. Here’s how it works, and what to look out for:

Initial Attack:
Somebody sends you a “Friend Request” on Facebook. You weren’t born yesterday, so you don’t accept Friend Requests from people you don’t know, but you think that perhaps you know this person from work, school, church, or someplace else, so… you check out their Facebook page. There, you notice that several of your friends are friends with this person (in my case, the attacker’s name was Daisy Arnold, so let’s use that name from here on out). I was probably in a hurry, and once I saw that Daisy was friends with several people I know well, I figured she must be a new acquaintance and Accepted. This is where I messed up. DO NOT accept Friend Requests from people YOU DO NOT KNOW IN REAL LIFE!

You might be asking: “So what’s the harm? Maybe I just forgot meeting her. Perhaps she follows my blog. Maybe she’s new to Facebook, and thinks that you NEED a lot of friends.” All good questions, and all questions that Social Engineers count on you asking. Their goal is just to get you to invite them in. Here’s what happens once you Accept them (in my case Daisy Arnold) as a friend:

The Sneak Attack:
Once Daisy’s your friend (remember, they use MANY fake names, pictures, and personal information), ALL of your personal information you make available for your friends is hers for the taking. That may include your full name, birthdate, telephone, home address, place of employment, educational background, and all information about your children and family. You might even present them with your travel itineraries and information about your most recent purchases. Would an identity thief strike gold on your Facebook page? But that’s not the worst of it. Besides mining all your accessible personal information, they will mine your list of friends to begin:

The Sneakier Attack:
Mind you, Daisy (or whatever name is used) is not carrying out this attack by herself. Black Hat software designed for these types of attacks will be executing on hundreds of computers, worldwide, to replicate this attack thousands of times over… often without the computer owner’s knowledge. Once daisy has access to your list of friends on Facebook, she will Friend Request them. With this type of geometric progression, it doesn’t take long for Daisy to collect a large number of new friends that have MANY connections to her, so you may be easily fooled by her next attack:

The Damage Attack:
At this point, Daisy posts a link for you to check out, or a link to a fun new game app, or a link to a site where you can get free stuff (music, computers, etc.). Daisy sent a link to what looked like a porn site. If you follow the link, it’s pretty much all over for you, your computer, and your identity. Virtually every step you take from this point forward will be loading malware into your computer. Malware can take many forms, from using your computer to broadcast spam, to logging your every keystroke, to destroying your data, to any number of illegal uses that you would not be aware of.

What Can You Do?
First, unfriend the Daisy’s you have let in. She still mined information from your page, but at least now, she can’t use YOU to sucker any more of your friends into accepting her as a friend.

Second, NEVER click on any site that you haven’t checked out! Your friends are sometimes easily scammed, so if it looks or feels wrong… it probably is.

Third, NEVER click through on a new Facebook app or site from a friend’s link! If it’s real, you can get to it from a trusted source (like Facebook)… more likely, the link you click from a friend will take you down a rabbit hole. Many of my friends have ignored my advice in this area for years; most have no idea that ALL of their links, apps, games, and videos they send me don’t make it past my first level of filters. You can lead a horse to water… yada, yada, yada.

Last But Not Least!
Consider this:

1.     If your computer is running noticeably slower, even for simple tasks, you are probably infected with malware.

2.     If your CPU performance is high when you are doing nothing, you are probably infected with malware.

3.     If you’ve ever downloaded free music or videos, you are probably infected with malware.

4.     If you have ever copied any game, music, or program off of a memory stick or CD, you are probably infected with malware.

If you are infected, there are several ways to eradicate malware and viruses. I’m not promoting any brand of anti-virus or anti-malware software, but unless you are one… you should let a computer professional handle it; much like professional extermination.

Oh, one more thing: Daisy Arnold is NOT my friend. If you are a Facebook friend of mine, I apologize if you have been friended by her because she gained access to my friends list. Mea Culpa!

YBIC,

Dave