<p>The images, Internet links and videos depicting pornography and violence have hit some people's Facebook newsfeeds in recent days.</p>.<p> "We experienced a coordinated spam attack that exploited a browser vulnerability," Facebook spokesman Andrew Noyes said in a statement emailed to Reuters. "Our efforts have drastically limited the damage caused by this attack, and we are now in the process of investigating to identify those responsible."</p>.<p> Facebook does not know yet who was behind the attack and a motive was not clear, Noyes added during an interview with Reuters.</p>.<p> Facebook users were tricked into pasting and executing "malicious" javascript in their browser URL bar, which led to them unknowingly sharing the content, Noyes explained.</p>.<p> Facebook engineers have been working to reduce this browser vulnerability, he added.</p>.<p> Facebook and other "Web 2.0" sites are easy targets for such attacks because they pull in a lot of content from outside sources, according to Paul Ferguson, senior threat researcher at Trend Micro Inc.</p>.<p> "It seems every other day there is some new Facebook 'threat,' but this is just the new reality of Web 2.0 and social networking," Ferguson said. "It is 'low-hanging fruit' for criminals."</p>
<p>The images, Internet links and videos depicting pornography and violence have hit some people's Facebook newsfeeds in recent days.</p>.<p> "We experienced a coordinated spam attack that exploited a browser vulnerability," Facebook spokesman Andrew Noyes said in a statement emailed to Reuters. "Our efforts have drastically limited the damage caused by this attack, and we are now in the process of investigating to identify those responsible."</p>.<p> Facebook does not know yet who was behind the attack and a motive was not clear, Noyes added during an interview with Reuters.</p>.<p> Facebook users were tricked into pasting and executing "malicious" javascript in their browser URL bar, which led to them unknowingly sharing the content, Noyes explained.</p>.<p> Facebook engineers have been working to reduce this browser vulnerability, he added.</p>.<p> Facebook and other "Web 2.0" sites are easy targets for such attacks because they pull in a lot of content from outside sources, according to Paul Ferguson, senior threat researcher at Trend Micro Inc.</p>.<p> "It seems every other day there is some new Facebook 'threat,' but this is just the new reality of Web 2.0 and social networking," Ferguson said. "It is 'low-hanging fruit' for criminals."</p>