This one bent my brain a little but thanks to Kellee on FB for forwarding this one to us.

It appears that there is a hint of truth in this one. It goes back to 2011 when this first reared it’s head. It was initially reported as a hoax  but after many users continued to report posts like this it was looked into again.

Basically, back in 2011 nasty pasty hackers were getting access to unwitting users accounts by tricking them into cut/paste an internet code called Javascript into their browsers which then allowed the hackers to control the site that the user was interacting with. I want to say here in red & bold because it’s serious;

Do not ever, EVER! cut and paste any kind of code from Webpages or FB pages into your Web browser.

They will try to trick you by offering prizes or the chance to see “some celebrity doing something video/images”; there is no such prize or video;

Do not ever, EVER! EVER! cut and paste any kind of code from Webpages or FB pages into your Web browser.

Anywho, back to the story; It transpires that once the hacker had control of your FB account they posted (fake) images of Bieber (why do they always use this annoying midget??) engaging in some hardcore man love and naked grannies and so on, onto your wall.

Rumours surrounding this attack were linked to various groups like Anonymous back in 2011, but were never confirmed.

Facebook got onto the problem and found the security problem was with certain Web browsers (I’m not saying that IE was a culprit – because I don’t know that for sure – but I BET you that it was!)  and released a statement saying,

“Protecting the people who use Facebook from spam and malicious content is a top priority for us, and we are always working to improve our systems to isolate and remove material that violates our terms. Recently, we experienced a coordinated spam attack that exploited a browser vulnerability. Our efforts have drastically limited the damage caused by this attack, and we are now in the process of investigating to identify those responsible.

During this spam attack users were tricked into pasting and executing malicious javascript in their browser URL bar causing them to unknowingly share this offensive content. Our engineers have been working diligently on this self-XSS vulnerability in the browser. We’ve built enforcement mechanisms to quickly shut down the malicious Pages and accounts that attempt to exploit it. We have also been putting those affected through educational checkpoints so they know how to protect themselves. We’ve put in place backend measures to reduce the rate of these attacks and will continue to iterate on our defenses to find new ways to protect people.”

Which basically means that they found the main problem was with certain browsers but fixed it from their end.

NOTE: The issue with browsers has since been fixed and security updates have been sent: another reason you should always keep your browser updated.

NOW …… That is the end of the history lesson.

The current warning that is circulating FB (an example is pictured but we’ve seen a few other versions) is more than likely a fake, a simple scam by likewhores to increase the reputation of their page.

My advice; instead of spreading this message and potentially furthering the cause of those who only want to mess up the joint, protect your account from these attacks. NEVER cut/paste code into your browser (I may have mentioned that previously!), ALWAYS  keep your browser updated, NEVER install unknown apps that request to “post on your behalf” and uninstall any apps that do have permission, NEVER get sucked into clicking on the “OMG you wont believe it” video links and finally, if you do see something that looks sus, report it to Facebook and the friend in question so that they can secure their account.

Happy internetting!