Security firm: Facebook chat worm continues to spread

A worm continues to spread on popular social networking site Facebook, tricking users into believing they were clicking on a link to an image.

 

Sophos said the worm appeared to continue spreading via Facebook's chat system, exploiting compromised users' accounts.

 

In a blog post, Sophos said the malware is designed to install the Dorkbot worm on users' computers, and that "for now at least, Facebook's built-in security systems are not preventing it."

 

Sophos said the link may appear on casual observation to point to Facebook.com, but in reality it goes to a third-party website.

 

"Although an unsuspecting user may believe that they are clicking on a link to a JPG image, the truth is that they are downloading an executable file that attempts to download further code (another piece of malware) from the net and drops a .BAT batch file onto infected computers," Sophos warned.

 

It said the ultimate aim is to install the Dorkbot malware onto a Windows computer. Sophos detects the files as the Troj/VB-FRI and Troj/VB-FRJ Trojan horse respectively.

 

"Clearly it's time, if you haven't already learnt the lesson, to realise that you should always be wary of links shared by friends on social networks - after all, how can you tell it was a friend who sent it or a piece of malware on their computer?" it said. — LBG, GMA News