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Facebook Users Beware: Why the Popular Site Could Harm Your PC

By KFBB News Team

Story Created: Feb 10, 2010 at 5:28 PM MST

Story Updated: Feb 10, 2010 at 5:28 PM MST

For over 400 million people all across the globe, Facebook is a useful, everyday tool for staying in touch with friends.

But it could also be a welcome mat for viruses on your PC.

Since the start of the New Year, computer repair experts across town say they’ve seen about a 50 to 60 percent increase in customers.

They’re attributing that increase to social networking sites like Facebook. They say more than half of their clients computers were infected from using those websites.

"Facebook, they probably really don't want to admit it, but they do have a serious problem," says John Gagnon, president of Gagnon, Inc. in Great Falls.

With more and more individuals signing up for Facebook every day, it's a problem that just keeps growing.

Explains Tom Glover, who runs his own computer tech business, “It's the fad now. It's what everyone's interested in. Used to be just teenagers, but now us older folks have gotten interested in Facebook and Myspace and Twitter, and that just increases the opportunity."

On the Internet, a virus is just a click away. And social networking sites like Facebook are no exception.

Experts say it's happening when people accept friend requests they don't know - and use popular applications that take them to 3rd party websites.

"Once they've infected your face page, it goes to all the people who are on your list of friends and replicates themselves in requests to those people,” Gagnon warns.

A virus can show itself in less obvious ways, too. An innocent looking Facebook message from a friend could be hiding a malicious infection.

“Just because it says it's from your sister don't necessarily think that it was your sister who sent that to you."

And even though you might have anti-virus software on your computer, that doesn't mean you're protected.

As viruses get more sophisticated, anti-virus programs find themselves having to play "catch up".

"Your best bet is to do all the windows updates,” advises Glover, “When you have an antivirus program or a security software that you trust, you need to make sure that you're running not only the latest definitions that look for these things, but you need to be running the latest software."

John Gagnon also says that if you suspect your computer might be infected, don’t wait to get it fixed because the problem will only get worse and end up costing you more money.

Having your computer repaired by an expert will set you back between $50 and $100.

Facebook tells NewsChannel 5 that security is a top priority for them, and that they are constantly working to help make their site more secure.

They suggest the following to keep yourself protected:

• Use an up-to-date browser that features an anti-phishing black list. Some examples include Internet Explorer 8 or Firefox 3.0.10.
• Use unique logins and passwords for each of the websites you use.
• Check to see that you're logging in from a legitimate Facebook page with the facebook.com domain.
• Be cautious of any message, post or link you find on Facebook that looks suspicious or requires an additional login.

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