No complaints about Facebook spam, says CID

However, with such reports creating a scare, many Facebook users opted to exercise more caution while clicking on unverified links.

Many posted messages on their walls advising their friends to ignore such links. A British Broadcasting Corporation report said the social networking site had rid its site of most of the pornographic and violent images posted as part of a spam attack.

Browser vulnerability
The social network blamed a browser vulnerability and said it was improving its systems to defend itself against similar attacks in the future.

Here’s a sample of a status message put up by a Facebook user: “Attention!! The hackers are putting nonveg videos to your name in the walls or profiles of your friends without you knowing it. You don’t see it, but other people can see it, as if these were a publication that you made!

Also, they’re sending inbox messages to your friends asking you to click a link... Don’t do it !! So if you receive something from me about a video or a strange inbox message, it’s not me ! Copy this in your wall. It is for the security of your own image !!”

Taking cue, many have also upgraded their privacy settings. “They should be more careful. However, the maintenance and security levels in Facebook must be increased,” said Saisudha Chitrak, a student of Ambedkar Institute of Technology.

Privacy settings
Ganapathy Ram, a student of SLB Institute of Technology, agreed: “People should be more careful and use the privacy settings. Many people ignore the privacy settings and upload many pictures and even mobile numbers in some cases. They don’t realise this can be dangerous. Facebook must also increase their number of firewalls and upgrade their system.”

Security upgraded
Facebook has also acknowledged the crisis and has upgraded its security by introducing ‘secure browsing’ which helps view the social networking site through a secure connection and prevents hackers from accessing information on public networks.