Phishing is the theft of your credentials to access sites in your name. But how do we avoid it? Here are some tips on what to do.
Like any social media, even on Facebook this phenomenon is spreading, and even if it could be relatively dangerous (if not for your virtual identity) it is certainly annoying; in fact, you would be involved in a series of unpleasant misunderstandings, incomprehensible disappearances and comments that would make you lose most of your friends within the social network.
How does it happen?
Usually the email received will invite you to click on a link, to view a content (perhaps a photo, a video or other) that peaks your curiosity.
You will be presented with a screen asking you to fill in details.
Pay attention to the email address and it will allow you to understand the origin of the page you are viewing.
This foresight can be useful in any other phishing attempt (bank, credit card, post etc etc). In addition, these emails inevitably have an attachment that will try, if displayed, to install a virus (usually a backdoor, or trojan) on your PC in an attempt to take control of your system.
One of the most common Facebook viruses acts as follows: the user receives a message from one of their contacts with a video, the preview of which is an image taken from their profile.
The video is accompanied by your name, followed by the word video and an emoticon. The message is very similar to Facebook’s Memories function and deceives the user into believing that his friend has sent him a nice video to watch directly on Facebook or YouTube.
Unfortunately, however, by clicking on the video the user automatically downloads the malware.
How to know you got hacked on Facebook?
In general, there are 3 clues to the presence of hacking on Facebook:
• Your account posts / sends spam or unwanted content.
• Suspicious access locations are displayed in the account history.
• There are abnormal activity in the Activity Log, such as posts, messages, and other unknown items.
If you recognize any of these signs in your Facebook account, it is very likely that it is infected with a virus. At this point, however, it is necessary to understand if the virus has remained confined to Facebook or if it has also infected the computer or browser.
How to know the scam got into your PC?
Possible signs of a virus on your PC include:
• Computer slowdown and overall performance degradation.
• Presence of new unknown apps and services (on Windows, check the Processes and Performance tabs of the Task Manager tool).
• Unwanted pop-ups and windows appear in your browser or on Windows.
• Your browser settings have been changed without your intervention (home page, default search engine, cookie settings, and so on).
• There are new extensions and plugins on the browser that you are not familiar with.
How do you remove a virus from Facebook Messenger?
If you think you’ve caught one, follow these steps to get rid of virus on Facebook:
• Do not reply to suspicious message.
• Don’t open suspicious or videos.
• Inform your contacts so that the virus does not infect their accounts and computers as well.
• Report the problem to Facebook.
• Check the extensions and plugins present on your browser (in Chrome, Menu> More Tools> Extensions) and remove any you do not know. If your browser is malfunctioning and won’t let you change your settings, you can restore the default settings as a last resort.
• Scan your PC with the free antivirus.
• Update your Facebook password.
How can I prevent virus infections on Facebook?
You have solved the problem and eliminated the virus, and now you want to learn how to protect yourself so that it does not happen to you again. Congratulations! This is just the right attitude to prevent malware infections and other cyber threats.
Below we created a list of protection for Facebook, containing some simple tips to protect your Facebook account and your devices from malware, ransomware and other digital dangers.
Protection rules for Facebook:
• NEVER reply to suspicious messages and NEVER click on links, videos, files or anything else that does not come from a person or business you know personally and that looks strange. Trust your instincts!
• Use Facebook’s additional security features. In particular, we strongly recommend that you set up two-factor authentication, activate login notifications and, when you are in an unsafe place, use a one-time password.
• Don’t share your Facebook login credentials.
• Protect your password and update it periodically.
• Don’t accept friend requests from people you don’t know.
• Log out of Facebook when using a computer shared with other people.
• Keep your browser up to date.
• Check the extensions and plugins active in the browser.
• Always keep your operating system up to date. All operating systems have security patches released periodically along with updates.
• Set the automatic update of the OS, so you don’t have to remember to do it every time.
• Install good cybersecurity software like Avast, which protects you from all kinds of cyber threats and helps you optimize your computer’s performance.
If you’d like any more advice or have an issue you want to speak to us about, get in touch with WiseGuys on 0808 123 2820. We can also help to make sure you have the right apps and tools to browse safely online, such as anti-virus software, private connections, and more.
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