Facebookers beware - Warning from Symantec Security

Even though some of us do not care to admit it near everyone and his pet has a facebook page at this point - which makes the news from Symantec all the more poignant on a global scale.

This from the Symantec website about the possible security threat posed to some users:

"Facebook applications are Web applications that are integrated onto the Facebook platform. According to Facebook, 20 million Facebook applications are installed every day. Symantec has discovered that in certain cases, Facebook IFRAME applications inadvertently leaked access tokens to third parties like advertisers or analytic platforms. We estimate that as of April 2011, close to 100,000 applications were enabling this leakage. We estimate that over the years, hundreds of thousands of applications may have inadvertently leaked millions of access tokens to third parties."

It does appear that it mostly affects users that have installed third party applications via Facebook or played some of the silly games that your friends might invite you to join. Read the original article from Symantec here.

According to the guys over at InfoWorld the easiest way to get around the problem if you suspect that you might be vulnerable is to change your facebook password.

Constantly remind yourself to consider your online security - you would not drive down a questionable street in a questionable area of town with your windows down, your wallet on the dashboard of your vehicle and your doors unlocked would you? Well, not considering your online security, clicking on suspect links in emails and wallposts or even installing some of these third party applications is the digital equivalent of doing just that!

Allow me the opportunity to say that if you are using facebook to farm, play poker or any other silly activity - you are doing it wrong! It is intended to be a social networking site and should remain thus...

Always be suspicious and always be careful.

Regards,
WarBrad.