Facebook IM spam surges

Jordan Golson — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 15:35:57 -0400

Like every other popular internet service under the sun, lots of spammers try to spam Facebook. Luckily for users, the company tries real hard to stop it. Facebook spokesman Barry Schnitt told The Standard that "malicious actors are constantly attacking the site and what you see is actually a very small percentage of what is attempted." Yikes!

Nick O'Neill at allfacebook noted the increase in IM spam coming over the fancy new Facebook IM platform. It seems spammers are somehow gaining access to user accounts and sending IMs to everyone on their buddy lists. Facebook recommends that affected users reset their passwords. "We're aware of the IM spam and believe that only a small percentage of users have been affected," Schnitt told me. "We're working to update our security systems to minimize further impact."

Just like with litter, spam is everyone's responsibility. Facebook believes that "education is a key part of the solution" and would like users to check out the site's security page for more information on "recent threats".

(Photo by Freezelight)