Facebook hit with porn and violent images 'virus'
Facebook has said that it is investigating reports that pornographic and violent images have been posted on the social network in members' news feeds.
Technology website ZDNet reports that the material is being spread via a "linkspam virus", which encourages users to click on seemingly innocent story links.
The virus could possibly have expanded so quickly via "clickjacking", a process involving a user clicking on an image and inadvertently sharing it on their own news feed.
Facebook said that it is "aware of these reports" and confirmed that it is "investigating the issue".
In an emailed statement, a Facebook spokesman added: "Protecting the people who use Facebook from spam and malicious content is a top priority for us and we are always working to improve our systems to isolate and remove material that violates our terms.
"We have recently experienced an increase in reports and we are investigating and addressing the issue."
Thousands of Facebook members have turned to microblogging website Twitter to post comments about the security breach.
"Discovered a new porn site, it's called Facebook," posted one user.
Graham Cluley, a consultant at internet security firm Sophos, said today that "explicit and violent" images had been flooding the news feeds of Facebook users over the past 24 hours.
Writing on the Sophos blog, Cluley said that images included hardcore porn and photoshopped images of celebrities, including 17-year-old singer Justin Bieber, in sexual positions.
He said that the violent images included a photo of an abused dog and other mutilated animals.
"It isn't presently clear precisely how the offending content has been spread - whether users are falling for a clickjacking scheme, are being tagged in content without their knowledge, have poorly chosen privacy settings, have been tricked into installing malicious code, or have fallen victim to another vulnerability inside Facebook itself," wrote Clueley
"What's clear, however, is that mischief-makers are upsetting many Facebook users and making the social networking site far from a family-friendly place."
Several people are linking the attack to the Anonymous hackers after a video appeared on YouTube supposedly from the group threatening to "kill" the social network. But experts have since doubted the authenticity of the video.
Cluley called on Facebook to urgently tackle the spread of offending content, or potentially face long-term consequences, as some users have already indicated that they will cancel their accounts.
"It's precisely this kind of problem which is likely to drive people away from the site," he wrote.
"Facebook needs to get a handle on this problem quickly, and prevent it from happening on such a scale again."
Wouldn't touch facebook with a bargepole. (And I actually played on barges during childhood as the Surrey Canal ran near my street going into the Surrey Docks)
stevezodiac wrote:Hear too may bad things about Facebook.
And I won't drive a car as traffic accidents kill more kids than anything else in the UK...
But seriously - I resisted FB for years, but since I've joined I've found it a good networking tool. Most current comic artists and writers are on there, discussing the minutiae of creating comics (as well as the merits of new Doctor Who, what they had for lunch and pictures of their cats....zzzz)
I was just jokingly pointing out that there's a good reason not to do anything if you think about it. I also took a lot of convincing before I signed up for FB, but it really isn't that bad.
I did join twitter but have almost never used it - I don't think I quite get it. The problem is you cannot have a browse around Facebook because you have to actually join it first to be able to look at it.
A mate of mine has recently had his Facebook hacked with someone typing vile rude messages making it look like him. Creepily they also had his email details as well as they was able to change the password on his account. We had to block the old account and set a new one up.
I got my FB account hacked as well , hardly visited it to be honest before then but this made me just delete it - strangely I put on a "false name" as I thought that was what you did and got about 10 friends request in the first few days from folk that said they went to school with me, and or knew my brother etc (the name was not a standard name) that kinda put me off it, not a fan of social networks but I can see why folk like it
If you have a Facebook account, you MUST read this. 
I was just jokingly pointing out that there's a good reason not to do anything if you think about it. I also took a lot of convincing before I signed up for FB, but it really isn't that bad.