-It's hard to hide from hackers.
Recently, researchers at UC Riverside found that Facebook with its billion users has become a popular way to spread spam and other malware.
The team studied the Facebook pages of 12,000 users for 4 months.
-Almost half of them when exposed to at least 1 software as what we call it, which is short for social malware.
-The viral nature of social networks makes them especially vulnerable.
-And if your friend says, "Hey, there's a cool deal out there for a free iPad", you're much more likely to believe it.
-To help protect users, the researchers created MyPageKeeper, an app that identifies malicious links or ads posted on profiles.
And there are more ways to keep hackers at bay.
Pay attention to how posts are worded.
-Most stamp posts seem to contain these typical kinds of keywords like wow, free, deal,
omg, and so on because at the end of the day, they need to attract the user's attention.
-Another red flag?
Free offers.
-The first thing they do is okay, you're going to get a free iPad and fill out this form.
They even ask for your credit card details.
So, many others are just a front for identity theft.
-And as always, when it comes to links, think before you click.
It could help you avoid all that social spam, something your friends will like.
In San Francisco, I'm Sumi Das, cnet.com for CBS News.
