Easy sharing of personal photos and videos, keeping in touch with friends and family, instant messaging as part of the website, and a wealth of additional applications - all these features of social networks like Facebook are undoubtedly attractive. While the advantages of social networks are obvious after a short period of use, the risks resulting from them are generally disregarded by their users. Both the loss of private personal data and the possibility of malware infection are at stake.
Facebook has recently been the scene of a massive surge in fraudulent groups and social engineering. The dubious magic of these fraudulent groups lies especially in their name, promising everyone joining the group an attractive new feature. An example of such a scam is called Stalker Catcher, widespread on Facebook in many variants. The users are lured to the group on the pretext that they will see exactly who and when is visiting their personal profile. The alleged instructions for feature activation result in nothing more and nothing less than sending group invitation to all contacts of the victim. Due to privacy protection, Facebook does not allow tracking of browsing profiles, neither as a standard feature, nor as a possible feature of additional applications.
The numbers of users, who voluntarily join fraudulent groups and send invitations to all their contacts, are strikingly high. Due to this carelessness, people behind the scams are easily gaining large databases of contacts. These databases can be later sold to other cybercriminals, and used for sending spam or for further phishing scams. Some of the fraudulent groups explicitly invite the users to install a certain application, which is even more dangerous. The risk of malware infection should never be underestimated.
For safer use of Facebook, users should follow two basic principles. First, do not trust ostentatious promises, included in a title of a group. Before joining a group, it is good to consider, how realistic the promises are and whether they are worth one’s attention at all. Second, use regularly updated antivirus and antispyware software. In the worst case of accidental installing of fraudulent software, the security software is there to stop the process. For this purpose, TrustPort develops the award winning products TrustPort Antivirus 2010 and TrustPort PC Security 2010. They are both reliable and inexpensive, making them one of the top alternatives on the antivirus market.
For several weeks already, users from all over the world have been able to visit TrustPort on Facebook. There they can find all the basic information about the company, the latest news about the brand and products, and an extensive photo gallery covering events organized or attended by TrustPort. They can also support the company by becoming fans of the page, and possibly inviting their friends or colleagues to take a look, too. Joining the world of social networks is another step of continuous efforts to promote TrustPort worldwide.
TrustPort Company Profile
TrustPort is a major producer of software solutions for the protection of personal computers and computer networks, for secure communications, and for reliable data protection. For homes and small offices, the compact TrustPort Antivirus and the comprehensive TrustPort PC Security are offered by TrustPort. For the protection of portable memory media, the unique TrustPort USB Antivirus and TrustPort U3 Antivirus are available.
At the level of company networks, TrustPort provides mainly the TrustPort Net Gateway security solution and the TrustPort WebFilter content filtering solution. For the security of workstations, TrustPort PC Security Business and TrustPort Antivirus Business are available. These two products can be installed and maintained by the means of TrustPort Management central administration console.
TrustPort products are characterized by a comprehensive approach to the security of computers and networks. They protect against known threats while revealing new dangers. In addition to applications for detection and elimination of malware and spam, TrustPort provides tools for reliable encryption, electronic signing, and secure shredding of unused sensitive data. Server solutions offer progressive methods for the protection of mail and web traffic of the company. They also provide secure authentication of users when using remote network access.
TrustPort belongs to the Cleverlance Holding, which ranks among the largest enterprises in Central Europe, providing solutions and services in the field of information technologies.
If you are interested to get more information please visit our website or contact us using the following contact details:
Jakub Truschka
Marketing Specialist
TrustPort, a.s.
Spielberk Office Centre
Holandská 878/2
639 00 Brno
Czech Republic
Tel.: +420 541 244 471
E-mail: jakub.truschka@trustport.com
Website: www.trustport.com