Facebook phishing attacks on the rise

Cyber criminals are luring Facebook users to fake sites through phishing emails to obtain personal login data for their own financial gain.

Symantec have observed a new surge of phishing attacks on Facebook users since May and they are likely to continue.

The current phishing attacks target Facebook user accounts. Symantec have observed that phishing attackers send a message to the victim’s Facebook “inbox” along with an email notification, which appears to be from a friend. The messages ask the user to visit a malicious and fake login page. The attacker then steals the user’s login information to launch successive attacks.

To avoid phising scams and inadvertently sending malicious messages to Facebook friends, Symantec recommends:

• Be cautious of messages on websites or those that appear to be sent be from a website
• Check the domain name or type the Web address directly in rather than relying on links within messages
• Use complex and unique passwords for different sites
• Keep your browser and operating system up-to-date. Use security software and check out web safety services to stay aware of dangerous phishing and malware sites
• Be suspicious of requests to enter your account name and password

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