Facebook Boosts Security After Worm Log-In Theft

Facebook's security's been boosted in light of claims that a computer worm recently obtained 45,000 of the social networking site's log-ins.

It's understood that the log-ins belonged in the main to Facebook users located in France and the UK and that the Ramnit worm was involved in the attacks.

The issue was first flagged-up by security organisation Securlet, which reported: "We suspect that the attackers behind Ramnit are using the stolen credentials to log-in to victims' Facebook accounts and to transmit malicious links to their friends, thereby magnifying the malware's spread even further". It continued: "In addition, cybercriminals are taking advantage of the fact that users tend to use the same password in various web-based services to gain remote access to corporate networks."

Ramnit Worm: Facebook Log-In Thefts

The Ramnit worm reportedly responsible for the Facebook log-in thefts first emerged in April 2010 and, during the last three months of 2011, is believed to have infected no less than 800,000 PCs around the world.

Writing around the time that the worm was first identified, Microsoft described it as ‘...a family of multi-component malware that infects Windows executable files, Microsoft Office files and HTML files' capable of spreading to removable drives and of obtaining ‘sensitive information such as saved FTP credentials and browser cookies'.

Facebook Security Boost

In a statement, the Facebook security boost was confirmed. ‘Last week we received from external security researchers a set of user credentials that had been harvested by a piece of malware', the social networking site explained.

‘Our security experts have reviewed the data, and while the majority of the information was out-of-date, we have initiated remedial steps for all affected users to ensure the security of their accounts.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.

‘We encourage our users to become fans of the Facebook Security Page for additional security information', the statement concluded.

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