Tech Tips: Facebook apps can lead to security breaches

Recently I was looking at my status updates on Facebook and I
noticed that a friend of mine had posted a rather “racy” link
regarding a beautiful woman losing her top. I did a key word search
of the woman’s name along with the word “Facebook” and sure enough
this was an “app scam.”

Here is what happens.

You see the link on your friend’s page. Curious you go to look at
the link and it asks for access to your Facebook account. Eager to
see the link you click the “OK” button.

And here is the problem:

n On a benign app, you have just given this specific app access to
your page.

n On a more aggressive app, it may then go through your address
book and post that app on all of your friend’s walls.

n On an evenly more aggressive app, it could be a “Trojan” virus
and by approving access, it can attach a file to your computer and
cause a host of other problems to your system.

When linking to any online application, be sure to consider who it
is from and what it does. As a general rule of thumb, I never
accept any Facebook requests to join games or answer trivia
questions – even flair buttons can be dangerous.

For a while, my wife loved flair buttons and would send them to her
friends. A flair button looks just like a button that people would
pin to their denim jacket back in the 1980s. They would then line
up on the side of your Facebook page and people could look through
them and get a good laugh. The problem with these types of apps is
that they are not Facebook approved or reviewed. To Facebook’s
credit they wanted to create an open forum for all people to use.
They have realized the error of this philosophy and now spend a
tremendous amount of time going through apps they receive
complaints on.

Let’s be clear, I love Facebook.

In fact, I will post a link to this article on my Facebook profile
the day after it hits the newsstands because it helps increase my
readership. But as a user, you need to be cautious what games and
other applications you use on it. There is generally no good reason
for any app to have access to your account.

But there are certainly plenty of bad reasons.

Use Facebook, have fun, but stay out of “appland,” no matter how
curious you are to test out your “obscure 1980s movie trivia”
skills.

Mike Shelah is an account manager for Quantum
Telecommunications, Inc. He can be reached at 410-982-0045
mikeshelah@yahoo.com or on Twitter @mistertelecom. For more
information about the Tech Council, go to
www.carrolltechcouncil.org.

 

© 2011 Carroll County Times. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Share and Enjoy