Image representing Facebook as depicted in Cru...Image via CrunchBase, source unknown

Facebot demonstrates just how simple it is to weaponize increasingly popular social networking applications for social networks such as Facebook’s, which can be written by anyone for the site. Security experts have warned that OpenSocial and other such social networking platforms are one of the weakest links on social networks. There are over 15,000 Facebook applications available to members today, according to the Facebot researchers.

Interestingly, the researchers did not invite users via Facebook to download the application, but still managed to attract around 1,000 users who downloaded Facebot within the first few days it went live. They merely announced its availability to members of their research group and asked them to pass it to their colleagues. From there it apparently spread to other Facebook users.

The application basically works like this: When a user clicks on the app, it displays a National Geographic image, and unbeknownst to the victim it also forces their machine to act as a bot and send out 600 Kbyte HTTP requests to other victims’ machines. The code instructed the bots to attack some computers in the researchers’ lab.

Read the rest of this article at DarkReading

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