Facebook Closes 45K Accounts to Stop 'Worm'

Koobface Gang not bothering to hide their identities, location

(NEWSER) - You might think a cabal of cyber criminals who'd ripped off 400,000 to 800,000 Facebook users would be on the run and living deep underground. You'd be wrong. The so-called "Koobface Gang," makers of a Facebook worm that's done just that, is living large in St. Petersburg, Russia, the New York Times reports, and not only aren't they bothering to hide their identities, they regularly broadcast the location of their offices by checking in on Foursquare. More»

Analysts fear benefits for 'rogue' applications

(NEWSER) - Facebook is making users' addresses and cell phone numbers available to third-party developers, the site announced Friday on its blog . Users who accept the terms and conditions attached to a Facebook app while downloading it will be letting that app's makers see their contact information if they’ve posted it to their profiles, the Telegraph reports. It’s “a recipe for disaster, given the prevalence of rogue scam applications already on Facebook,” says a tech consultant. More»

60% are just acquaintances, study finds

(NEWSER) - A fifth of your Facebook friends are people you don’t even know—and three-fifths are just acquaintances, a study finds. The fact that only 20% of your friends are your actual friends may not come as a surprise to the average Facebook user, notes AllFacebook.com , but it’s a fact worth remembering: After all, the more unfamiliar friends you have, the greater your risk of getting malware and spam. Why keep so many so-called friends? 54% of responders to the survey, conducted by GoodMobilePhones , cited politeness, while 34% said they wanted to look more popular. More»

Supposedly malicious bug has yet to surface

(NEWSER) - A message circulating widely on Facebook that warns of a virus called "Christmas Tree" appears to be a fake, Mashable reports. "Of course, with the message spreading as quickly as it is, it wouldn’t surprise us if someone actually created a malicious app bearing that or a similar name," writes Stan Schroeder. "That’s the problem with fake warnings: They create confusion and after a while it gets hard to distinguish the fake threats from the real ones." More»

C'mon, now: You know not to post your phone number ... right?

(NEWSER) - Love bragging to your Facebook friends that you and your roomie are about to embark on a 10-mile run? Stop. You're basically broadcasting to thieves that your home is theirs for the taking for the next 90 minutes. On the Huffington Post , Catharine Smith and Bianca Bosker list 12 more things you should never, ever post on the social networking site:

1. Your birthday: Sure, we all love to get a wall-full of “happy birthday” wishes. But if you give your full birthday and/or your place of birth, you may as well hand over your financial security.