A Trojan Virus called KoobFace has recently been bothering users on Facebook.
KoobFace sends messages to friends of infected users asking them to click on a special link. If you click on the link you will get a message that you need to update your Flash player in order to view a special video. Obviously, there is no special video or an update. The message is just a trick to get users to infect their system by installing the Trojan Virus. Once infected, users are directed to malicious websites when they try to use search engines and thus putting them at risk of identity theft.
Koobface has been detected on Bebo as well and is expected to target other popular social networking sites such as Friendster, Hi5 and MySpace.
If you are wondering why some viruses are called “Trojans”, here’s the explanation from Greek Mythology:
Trojan Horse is an important part of an ancient war between the Spartans and the Trojans. It was caused by a Trojan prince called Paris who kidnapped a beautiful Spartan princess, Helen. Actually, Helen went willingly, but that’s another story. The war lasted for 9 years until a clever guy called Odysseus ordered a large wooden horse to be built. The inside of the horse was to be hollow so that Spartan soldiers could hide in it. The Spartans left the horse outside the gates of Troy and sailed away.
One Spartan man, Sinon, was left behind to trick the Trojans. When the Trojans came to marvel at the huge creation, Sinon assured them that the Spartans had fled and the wooden horse was safe and would bring luck to the victorious Trojans. The Trojans celebrated their victory, and dragged the wooden horse into the city of Troy.
That night there was a huge celebration and after most of the Trojans were asleep or in a drunken stupor, Sinon let the Spartan warriors out from the horse, and they slaughtered most of the Trojans.
So, a Trojan Virus is called a Trojan because it looks completely harmless until it is inside the “gates” of your system. Then it gets activated and the destruction begins.
… and who said you can’t learn anything from history.
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