You would assume that every application on Facebook is harmless since it has to get approved by Facebook before going live.
But you would be wrong. It’s easy to fall victim to a scam Facebook application that’s out to serve no purpose other than to muck up your friends’ feeds with advertising junk or worse, collect your information to sell to cyber crooks.
In today's Poked column, I address a few survey scams you need to be aware of, such as apps that claim to show your first Facebook status message, or find out how many people have viewed your profile.
UK-based security firm Sophos called out Facebook last week, demanding that it put more effort into banning such apps or at least into warning users on its blog when it gets wind of a fast-spreading scam.
Facebook responded, saying it has a dedicated team that reviews applications, but that it prioritizes apps that seem to pose the biggest risk, not necessarily reviewing an app as soon as it is launched.
Should Facebook be doing more? Until they ramp up their app monitoring, I wouldn't blindly trust any Facebook apps and allow them permission to access your profile, unless they are from a large, trusted brand. And even then I'd be suspicious as to what the app might be doing with your information.
Yeah, all the freebies & games on FB!
Somehow, one of these apps sneaked in to one of
my machines and hacked a Windows OS serial number. s a precaution, I like to only use FB
on one machine or my smartphone. Scary thoughts of something worse come in the middle
of the night.
Sorry friends, thats why no Farmville!!!
Posted by: Alansisisky | January 29, 2011 at 02:02 PM