ie8 fix
madison
Home / News & Blogs

Sophos: Facebook tracking app is bogus

Elinor Mills CNET News | November 30, 2010 4:49 AM PST

Summary

Security research firm Sophoss says a rogue app that was spread on Facebook recently is a phony.

Topics

Facebook, Sophos Plc., Security

Let's put this matter to rest right now: Any Facebook application that offers to reveal who is viewing your profile is a scam. Period.

Security research firm Sophos posted a memo saying a rogue app that was spread on Facebook recently with messages like "OMG ... I can't believe this actually works! Now you really can see who viewed your profile!" is bogus. I've asked a Facebook representative about this before, and he told me that apps on the site do not have the ability to track who is viewing profiles.

In this particular case, clicking on the link provided in the message takes users to a Web page that encourages people to permit an application to access their Facebook profile.Nearly 60,000 people have fallen for the latest scam, based on figures from Bitly using a search on one of the URLs used in this campaign, according to the post.

For more on this story, read No, you can't see who viewed you on Facebook on CNET News.

8
Comments
Add Your Opinion

Join the conversation!

Just In

RE: Sophos: Facebook tracking app is bogus
james347 1st Dec 2010
"*** Facebook *********************** is a scam. Period."

There, fixed it for you.
View in thread
0 Votes
+ -
RE: Sophos: Facebook tracking app is bogus
sdlkfjsdljf 30th Nov 2010
sfxvcxcv
0 Votes
+ -
One signs-on every second!
kd5auq 30th Nov 2010
Who said that?
happy
0 Votes
+ -
It is sad that people fall for this stuff
bobiroc 30th Nov 2010
Any links showing similar risks about things like the Dislike Button, checking who has defriended you, or the many many other useless apps on Facebook. I post information like this on my FB account to warn the people who are my friends but many just blindly click and accept away and then wonder why their information gets compromised or they get a malware infection. I guess you can never fix the "user" issue and how gullible people are. The warnings are there and many ignore them like idiot sheep following the flock.
0 Votes
+ -
RE: Sophos: Facebook tracking app is bogus
eftpotrm 30th Nov 2010
@bobiroc Surely it's not that the user is gullible as much as the applications are plausible if you don't know the Facebook developer API and there's insufficient screening going on to make sure they're not reaching the platform. People signing up to an 'Everyone who registers this app gets $100' application would be legitimately called gullible, but examples here are surely well within the bounds of plausibility for someone to write, if only Facebook exposed the information to apps. End users aren't to know they don't.
0 Votes
+ -
RE: Sophos: Facebook tracking app is bogus
bobiroc 30th Nov 2010
@eftpotrm

Yes FB has to take steps to try and prevent this but when you go to these types of applications like the Facebook Tracker described above it says this application was not developed by Facebook which should be clue one that if it sounds too good to be true it most likely isn't. IMO the Facebook App thing is way out of hand and Facebook needs to scrap these apps before they are published. I am not sure of their criteria on how apps are approved but there are many fake applications that take advantage of ignorant FB users. I have fixed many people's computers that accepted an App that promised them free Farmville cash or add ons and are preying on people that use the popular farmville game. Just goes to show that the more popular something gets the more likely someone is going to try and exploit it.
0 Votes
+ -
RE: Sophos: Facebook tracking app is bogus
mthomas@... 30th Nov 2010
Interesting, that on the very page I am reading this, there is an ad link titled "Who Viewed Your Profile? Discover who searched for you, went to your profile, and how many times."
0 Votes
+ -
RE: Sophos: Facebook tracking app is bogus
mikeb41@... 30th Nov 2010
@mthomas@...
It's also interesting that they (the commercial site) said that someone(s) had searched my profile on Facebook, when I don't have a profile.
0 Votes
+ -
RE: Sophos: Facebook tracking app is bogus
james347 1st Dec 2010
"*** Facebook *********************** is a scam. Period."

There, fixed it for you.

Join the conversation!

Formatting +
BB Codes - Note: HTML is not supported in forums
  • [b] Bold [/b]
  • [i] Italic [/i]
  • [u] Underline [/u]
  • [s] Strikethrough [/s]
  • [q] "Quote" [/q]
  • [ol][*] 1. Ordered List [/ol]
  • [ul][*] · Unordered List [/ul]
  • [pre] Preformat [/pre]
  • [quote] "Blockquote" [/quote]
ie8 fix

The best of ZDNet, delivered

ZDNet Newsletters

Get the best of ZDNet delivered straight to your inbox

Facebook Activity

ie8 fix