Bitdefender finds Anonymous threat to attack Facebook

SYDNEY & AUCKLAND – November 16, 2011 –Bitdefender, an award-winning provider of innovative Internet security solutions, has found a recent video post by the hacktivist group, Anonymous Central, saying it intends to attack Facebook accounts with a ‘highly sophisticated’ piece of malware, codenamed Fawkes Virus. Allegedly, the malware – which was ‘fully written’ by Anonymous' programmers – has already been tested.

According to the message, the Fawkes Virus consists of “a highly sophisticated worm, with advanced network self-replication and remote abilities. It sends out malicious links and gains access of your account.”

Razvan Livintz, Antimalware team member at Bitdefender commented:

“If it’s not a hoax, it appears to have the characteristics of 2008's KoobFace, but unlike its predecessor it should also receive commands from a remote attacker and simulate basic actions on Facebook accounts, such as sending a friend request or a message.”

Bitdefender recommends Facebook users download the Bitdefender Safego security application to protect themselves from malicious content spread by friends using the social network. Bitdefender Safego protects user’s social network account from all sorts of e-trouble: scams, spam, malware and private data exposure.

Over the past two weeks, Bitdefender has seen an increasing number of threats spreading across Facebook, based on the statistics provided by the Bitdefender Safego security app. However, George Petre, product manager, Social Media Security at Bitdefender, says that these threats are not related to the Fawkes Virus and most of the threats contain pornography or shocking images.

“Since this outbreak followed a relatively quiet period for Facebook threats, and considering the Anonymous video, we believe that these threats are not related to the Fawkes Virus.”

Razvan Livintz speculates that the Fawkes Virus worm will be more sophisticated and could be carried onto other account with little or no interaction, as it allegedly bypasses user’s application security and automatically sends infected links to the unsuspected contacts in the list of friends.

George Petre lists the following reasons why these recent threats are not the Anonymous Fawkes Virus:

1.       The threats look like other Facebook outbreaks

2.       The threats are occurring before Black Friday, and in the past we've seen this kind of threat correlate with important shopping events

3.       Some of the URLs used to spread this kind of worm contained a domain name related to the idea of shopping ( laptop-rental-store.info )

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For further information or to speak to George Petre from Bitdefender, please contact

Anna Barnes
Howorth Communications
02 8281 3802

Anna@Howorth.com.au

About Bitdefender

Bitdefender is the creator of one of the world's fastest and most effective lines of internationally certified internet security software. Since 2001, the company has been an industry pioneer, introducing and developing award-winning protection. Today, Bitdefender technology secures the digital experience of around 400 million home and corporate users across the globe.

Recently, the company has won a range of key independent recommendations in the US, UK and across Europe, including ConsumerSearch, Which?, Stiftung Warentest and Taenk. Bitdefender antivirus technology has also finished top in leading industry tests from both AV Test and AV-Comparatives. More information about Bitdefender's antivirus products is available from the company's security solutions press room. Additionally, Bitdefender publishes Malware City providing the latest updates on security threats and helping users stay informed in the everyday battle against malware.