There has been a report this week claiming that there are now over quarter of a million malicious posts on Facebook. The latest report from Infosecurity.com (click here) details how fan pages of celebrities such as Justin Timberlake are being used to trick the unsuspecting into downloading virus and malware infected files onto their system.  Links are also spreading into individuals pages.

The links can potentially be to any piece of malware but the following guidelines are a good way of minimising the risks:

1. Count to ten before you click on a link in Facebook. Even if the link is from a friend think carefully before you click.
2. If the link has a general title such as “I can’t believe you do this”, “Look at this”, “It really works” etc, approach it with suspicion.
3. Make sure your anti-virus package is up to date.  Malware is an arms race. The malware writers have a copy of last week’s anti-virus products and are working to overcome them. Keeping your package updated is vital.
4. If you download a file, scan it with your anti-virus product before you double-click on it. With most anti-virus products, you can scan files easily by clicking on the file name, then right-clicking and selecting “Scan”.
5. If you do get an infection, try to remove it straight away. Don’t ignore it, it won’t go away and may well get worse. If you don’t succeed in removing it yourself, get professional help.
6. If you get an infection, change your password. Some viruses gather personal information so better to be safe than sorry.

If you have any problems with these steps or any other problems please don’t hesitate to call one of our qualified engineers and technicians and we will be delighted to perform the required steps to deal with your problem.

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