Experts Observe that Facebook Color Changing App Reappears

Valuewalk.com published news on 7th August, 2014 quoting security researchers as saying "Users who have never liked the particular shade of blue engaged by Facebook Inc have recently fallen victim to a Facebook scam.

The latest Facebook color changing app tempts users with an offer to alter the interface and header to a color of their own choice from the nine different colors like green, pink, black and orange on offer.

Cheetah Mobile, a Chinese online security firm, has exposed the latest app as a scam and explains that the problem arises from a malicious flaw that resides in the app page of Facebook which allows hackers to instill malicious code and viruses into Facebook-based apps redirecting unknowing users to a phishing website.

The scam based on color change has been existing on Facebook for long time now with the latest iteration having tricked approximately 10,000 users in several different countries.

The success of this scam plays on popular customization features of other sites like Tumblr and Myspace.

The cyber crooks employ two methods of attack to victimize users for the color changer swindle. The first one redirects victims to a tutorial video which seems to explain the usage of the app.

Clicking on the video by the user leads the hackers to gain temporary access to his Facebook accounts, allowing them to see his personal information besides, friends list.

The scammers also try to infect the user's system or device with malware concealed within a pornographic video player.

If the user is on an Android device, the site warns saying the device has been infected and advises users to download a recommended app.

It's not clear yet if Facebook plans to fix the vulnerability which is being exploited in the above scam by scammers.

Anybody who has already been victimized by this scam should remove the app instantly and also their Facebook password must also be changed.

Cheetah Mobile also recommends Internauts to shutdown their Facebook dais to avert the installation of app in the very beginning but that may stop all apps presently installed on Facebook and also prevent users to login third-party services such as, Spotify by using Facebook.

» SPAMfighter News - 8/15/2014