Facebook Or Fakebook?

By Lauren Gerber
Sourced from PC1 News

Facebook is the one site on the internet that is probably the most used. The amount of Facebook users are increasing dramatically on a daily basis. Facebook started out as a social networking site which mainly consisted of lots of young users but as Facebook currently stands there are users of all ages and walks of life. The computer security of Facebook is reaching alarming heights and Facebook users should be aware of the growing computer security concerns. Inclusive in the Facebook security concerns is fake profiles. Facebook is currently being flooded with fake profiles. Due to the huge daily registration rate on Facebook, it is hard to keep track of who is a regular user and who is a Facebook fake.

It has recently been discovered that over forty percent of new Facebook profiles are actually fake. The question that may be asked is why are people setting up fake Facebook profiles? The fake profiles are generally set up by a combination of either spammers or various malware and virus writers. Once the fake Facebook profiles are set up and in existence, the virus writers then proceed to persuade users to click on links. These links are not authentic and the majority of the time will take the user to malicious and dangerous sites.

Social networking sites are being targeted by spammers at an alarming rate. Various virus writers as well as cybercriminals are using the creation of these particular fake Facebook profiles to their advantage. One of the many tactics which are used is to persuade users to visit the fake profile page. This is achieved either by sending a friend request or sending a personal message. The profile page redirects the user to a malicious malware site. Another one of the tactics used is to persuade users to click on links leading to dangerous sites. This is done by placing the links on other people's walls or on fascinating blogs. People see the link and automatically assume that it is just another legitimate link and don't even think twice about clicking on it.

Facebook does have an extremely clear and precise policy with regard to fake profiles. According to Facebook and its policy a fake profile will be deleted when the Facebook teams becomes aware of it. Fake profiles are causing huge problems for many innocent Facebook users who have genuine profiles. The factor that spammers and virus writers are using fake Facebook profiles to their advantage means that people will stop at nothing in order to get people online to do what they want. Computer security in general is a great concern to all internet users worldwide.

It is interesting to note that besides people creating fake Facebook profiles for the usage of malicious purposes or spam, people create fake Facebook profiles of celebrities and actors all the time. If you are a regular Facebook user and do a search for a celebrity of your choice, chances are very likely that this particular celebrity has a Facebook profile. The question that arises is if this a genuine Facebook profile or is it a fake? The majority of the time there is no real way of telling. It can thus be said in conclusion: Don't take everything on Facebook at face value.