X

Facebook: browsers to blame for spam attack

Facebook has claimed it's browsers that are responsible for the recent influx of explicit images that have plagued people's news feeds.

Joe Svetlik Reporter
Joe has been writing about consumer tech for nearly seven years now, but his liking for all things shiny goes back to the Gameboy he received aged eight (and that he still plays on at family gatherings, much to the annoyance of his parents). His pride and joy is an Infocus projector, whose 80-inch picture elevates movie nights to a whole new level.
See full bio
Joe Svetlik
2 min read

This morning we brought you news Facebook was investigating a spate of sexual and violent images that had been popping up in people's news feeds. Well Facebook is claiming browser vulnerability for the attack.

In a statement, a spokesperson said, "Protecting the people who use Facebook from spam and malicious content is a top priority for us. Recently we experienced a spam attack that exploited a browser vulnerability."

It didn't mention if certain browsers were any safer than others, but did say it has got rid of the majority of the spam. "Our team has responded quickly and we have eliminated most of the spam caused by this attack," the spokesperson said. "We are now working to improve our systems to better defend against similar attacks in the future."

So what happened? Well it seems the scam involved tricking people into pasting a link into the browser url bar, causing them "to unknowingly share this offensive content." The spokesperson went on to say "No user data or accounts were compromised during this attack."

Said "offensive content" included pornographic images, some with celebrities Photoshopped in, as well as pictures of dead and mutilated animals.

The spokesperson also had some advice on how to avoid falling victim. You should never copy and paste unknown source code into your address bar; always use an up-to-date browser; and use the Report links on the site to flag suspicious behaviour or content on your or friends' accounts. All common sense stuff, but it never hurts to be reminded.

No one has claimed responsibility for the spam, and it seems nothing but a purely malicious act.

Facebook claims to have eliminated most of the spam, but are you still seeing any? And has the response been enough? Let us know in the comments below, or over on our Facebook page.