03 October 2011 | Author: L Boyd Media Intern
Facebook has joined forces with online security firm Websense, and plans to make the social networking site a safer place for its users.
The partnership hopes to implement greater measures to protect users from phishing and malware scammers, who could attempt to extract potentially valuable information such as passwords or bank details from users.
Due to the high number of people using the site, Facebook is a prime target for this type of criminal activity, as Websense's Spencer Parker told the BBC: "As a piece of real estate, it's extremely profitable to be targeted by malware writers."
Many of Facebook's 700 million+ users have fallen afoul of such tricksters, clicking unwittingly on a harmful link that appears to be posted by one of their friends. Parker said this type of phishing scam is more prevalent on Facebook due to the sense of trust involved.
"One of the things with Facebook, of course, is that you have that element of trust in a social network. If one of your friends posts something, you automatically trust it more than if it just received as a spam email."
At the moment, Facebook informs a user if they are about to visit an external site, but as of next week, new technology provided by Websense will enable the warning to differentiate between a malicious website and a safe one. If a threat is detected, users will be given the option to return to the previous page.
These efforts may also be a goodwill gesture towards users unhappy with recent changes to Facebook, attempting to bring them back on side.
Websense aids Facebook in tackling phishing scams
Facebook has joined forces with online security firm Websense, and plans to make the social networking site a safer place for its users.The partnership hopes to implement greater measures to protect users from phishing and malware scammers, who could attempt to extract potentially valuable information such as passwords or bank details from users.
Due to the high number of people using the site, Facebook is a prime target for this type of criminal activity, as Websense's Spencer Parker told the BBC: "As a piece of real estate, it's extremely profitable to be targeted by malware writers."
Many of Facebook's 700 million+ users have fallen afoul of such tricksters, clicking unwittingly on a harmful link that appears to be posted by one of their friends. Parker said this type of phishing scam is more prevalent on Facebook due to the sense of trust involved.
"One of the things with Facebook, of course, is that you have that element of trust in a social network. If one of your friends posts something, you automatically trust it more than if it just received as a spam email."
At the moment, Facebook informs a user if they are about to visit an external site, but as of next week, new technology provided by Websense will enable the warning to differentiate between a malicious website and a safe one. If a threat is detected, users will be given the option to return to the previous page.
These efforts may also be a goodwill gesture towards users unhappy with recent changes to Facebook, attempting to bring them back on side.
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