Facebook Virus Attacking spreading to friends

The message about a swiftly spreading virus in Facebook has no truth to it.

A lot of Facebook users have been fooled by a message claiming the spread of a virus in Facebook.

The message concerns a girl who supposedly committed suicide because of the post of her father on her Facebook wall.

In reality, it is actually a non-existent malware.

It has been confirmed that no such suicide has happened

However, the message continues to spread across the popular social networking site.

Needless to say, a lot of people are terrified and confused over the spread of such warning. Here is a part of the said hoax message: 

Facebook users are fooled into sharing this warning to their friends.

They think that by doing so, they are actually saving their friends from the malware risk.

What they do not know is that they are only proliferating a hoax about an imaginary (i.e., fake) virus.

In the end, Sophos, a net security firm, reports that the hoax is resulting to more troubles than a real malware could cause

Sophos also says that the troublemakers have taken advantage of the commotion resulting from the fake hoax.

They do so by putting up Facebook pages that claim to show screenshots of the supposed Facebook wall of the girl.

Upon closer inspection, the pages are actually created to earn cash.

They fool Facebook users to answer online surveys that lack repute and are most likely to be scams.

The hoax refers to a girl named Emma who supposedly committed suicide on December 24 in 2008 after she was bullied on Facebook.

Closer examination of the evidence of conversations resulting to this "tragic event", show the "Like" button.

Any avid Facebook user can testify that the "Like" button is a feature that Facebook started offering only a few months ago.

Malware hoaxes have long existed along with the Internet, even before social networking websites were conceived.

It is not surprising at all for troublemakers to use social websites to spread malware, viruses, hoaxes, and even a combination of these.

Web users are encouraged to confirm the truthfulness of reports with respectable authorities before they send these messages to their friends and other contacts.

It is recommended to never click on links or files received on social media sites.

Even if messages with links or attachments are coming from what looks as valid friends it can still be an virus spreading and sending dangerous links and toxic attachments that can lead to system compromise. 

The attackers are exploiting that you trust the target that is sending the links or attachments.

Always be sceptic when anyone wants you to click links or open attachment files.