The Next Big Viral Thing on Facebook: a Virus

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»

Grunt who posted details on social network gets 10 days in jail

(NEWSER) - A West Bank raid by the Israel Defense Forces had to be called off after a soldier posted details of the operation on his Facebook page. “On Wednesday,” the status update read, “we are cleaning out " a village, which the soldier named. “Today an arrest operation, tomorrow an arrest operation and then, please God, home.” The gabby grunt was booted from his elite unit and sent to jail for 10 days. More»

Hijacked accounts leave sting of shame

(NEWSER) - These days a computer virus can hijack not just your hard drive but also your online identity. Twitter and Facebook users are often mortified to learn that viruses have stormed their accounts, sending out messages to all their friends and followers. And all the more embarrassing when co-workers and loved ones who trust you fall for malicious programs cloaked as video links or online tests. More»

Program performs well in stress test

(NEWSER) - Want a great, free antivirus program from a big software brand? OK, it’s from Microsoft, and … wait! Come back! Believe it or not, Microsoft’s new Security Essentials software is pretty darn good. AV-Test.org ran it through a bevy of tests and found the freebie performed admirably. In its first outing, it nabbed all 3,700 viruses, Trojans, and worms that testers threw at it. More»

Computer invader may cause trouble tomorrow

(NEWSER) - Millions of PCs have been infected with the Conficker worm, and word has it the program may cause mischief tomorrow—April Fool’s Day. But routing it out needn’t be difficult, the AP reports. Here’s how:

• The worm blocks access to Microsoft and antivirus vendor sites, which offer tools to fight it. Check if you can visit these Web pages—if not, your machine may be infected.