ZoneAlarm has released an infographic regarding Facebook security. The first part is straightforward and tells us a bunch of statistics we already knew: 800 million monthly active users, some countries have embraced Facebook more than others, 4 million users are hit by spam daily, and so on. The only finding the security company seems to offer based on its own research is this: "more than 20 percent of newsfeed links currently open viruses."
That's a huge number that I find very difficult to believe. I would wager ZoneAlarm's study likely only looked at Facebook accounts belonging to users whose computers were already infected with malware. This would tip the scales since such individuals most likely have friends who are also most likely to click and spread viruses on the social network.
Either way, the bottom part of the infographic is the most important. Here is what ZoneAlarm recommends you do to protect yourself:
The last point is of course the reason ZoneAlarm created this infographic in the first place. The company sells a product called ZoneAlarm SocialGuard, which has the slogan "Advanced Facebook Security." It costs $20 per year. Here is what you get:
Notice how the third point seems to say that the 20 percent number includes more than just viruses: the links could also lead to fraudulent sites made by scammers. This makes me even more suspicious of the validity of ZoneAlarm's claim.
Regardless of what percentage of links are malicious on Facebook, I don't think you need Facebook-specific security software to protect you. Just follow one simple rule: don't click on suspicious links, regardless of who is sharing them.
Update: Facebook contacted me to clarify the "600,000 logins are compromised every day" bit. I purposefully avoided mentioning it in the article since I remembered that statistic was incorrectly quoted when it was first mentioned a few months ago. The only part of the infographic that actually appears to come from ZoneAlarm is what's in the title (that's why I put it there), but again, ZoneAlarm didn't provide details and Facebook didn't think it was worth discussing.
"While Facebook does block ~600k logins per day, it is not that these Facebook accounts are compromised on Facebook, and certainly not that they're 'hacked,'" a Facebook spokesperson said in a statement. "Compromised in this sense refers to logins where we are not absolutely confident that the account's true owner is accessing the account and we either preemptively or retroactively block access. We are being preventative and helping make sure people secure their account even if they aren’t actually compromised on Facebook."
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