Is it possible that a virus sends spam on Facebook?

[bi-lo]

Are there Facebook users here? I am one of the admins at a certain Facebook group page. We deleted a post of a member containing a nude picture. We understand his right to post but we warned him and those who would attempt again, to please, be circumspect on what they post because the page does not exist for that purpose. The poster responded telling us that that spam was a virus and somebody hacked his account.

Is that possible?

 

[bi-lo]

But hack and a virus are two different things. Can two events (hacked account and virus sending spam) happen at the same time?

 

[Wes Bucey]

As much as we may think we know about spam, viruses, trojans, worms, phishing, etc., we can't possibly know it all. Companies exist which do nothing but "try" to keep even with the various ways bad people can compromise not only our personal computers, but business computers, government computers. Even those companies are continually one step behind the crooks and pranksters who dream up different ways to gain access to our computers and thence our lives and our secrets.

Facebook, for example, offers this little tidbit in its help pages:

What is malware and how do people get it?
Malware is software that's designed to damage a computer or network. If you have malware on your computer, it could be used to get around Facebook's security controls and take over your account. This software can collect info from your account, send status updates or messages that look like they're from you, or cover your account with ads that crash your computer.
You can get malware from things like:

• Trying to watch a "shocking video" from a friend's status update
• Visiting a website that claims to offer special features on Facebook
• Downloading a browser add-on that claims to do something that's too good to be true

For example, there are sites and add-ons that claim they can show you who's viewing your timeline, change the color of your timeline or help you remove your timeline completely. These features don't exist.

​

 

[Kales Veggie]

But hack and a virus are two different things. Can two events (hacked account and virus sending spam) happen at the same time?

I doubt it. The user probably is trying to protect himself.

JPG pictures do NOT contain code and cannot contain a virus.

It is possible that the user used his FB account on an electronic device (public?) and did not logout. The next user on that electronic device used his FB account and published a nude picture.

This is not HACKING. This is stupidity (stay logged in on a public electronic device).

Hacking means that somebody guessed the user password and took control of the FB account.

 

[BradM]

It is possible that the user has a Potentially Unwanted Program (PUP) on their computer. If so, that PUP can take over some of their computer functions.

If they stay logged on to Facebook, it's possible the PUP could post something there.

I have had several FB friends that ended up having things posted there that they did not do.

 

[kgott]

Are there Facebook users here? I am one of the admins at a certain Facebook group page. We deleted a post of a member containing a nude picture. We understand his right to post but we warned him and those who would attempt again, to please, be circumspect on what they post because the page does not exist for that purpose. The poster responded telling us that that spam was a virus and somebody hacked his account.

Is that possible?

I would not be supprised to find this to be true, or something worse. I read another website in which a poster quoted a government spokes person who said that the government should insert operatives into chat rooms whose role would be to undermine the factual premise and logic of claims made in threads on that website.

The Australian secret intelligence agency recently requested the right (possibly to legalise what already happens) to be able hack people's computers and look for signs of terrorist activity.

If they can do this they can hack anyone's computer and use it to make any sort of post they want on someones face book page of any other website they like.

The worrying thing about this from a blokes perspective is that if they wanted to, they could load all sorts of socially unaccpetable images onto a blokes computer and the bloke concerned would never stand a chance of saying it was'nt him and clearing his name.

If this can happen in Australia it can no doubt happen anywhere. Using a virus would be just another way of achieving it.

 

[PaulJSmith]

Lots of good answers here, but I think Wes nailed it. There are entirely too many sheep on Facebook all too willing to click on anything that comes across their news feed. I've seen many posts from "friends" of mine with attachments or links that look questionable at best, most of the time accompanied by a "via blah blah blah" app name. They like a page or add some app that posts things on their page by proxy which goes into the news feed. For me, those "friends" get either removed from my news feed, or removed from my "friends" list.

Some, of course, are just examples of poor judgement of the individual in posting items of poor taste.