1,2,3,4/ Will this Jack go wild some more?

 

It’s raining Jacks! And nobody’s likely to say Hallejujah to that. This time round, the bad guys are trying to make an even bigger fuss about it and get everybody in the house to join in. That’s right, they’ve figured out how to make an Event out of the already nauseatingly advertised “see who viewed your profile” scheme.

Now, as all socialites around the world would kill a mocking bird (what’s happening to me? Disclaimer: no animals were hurt during the writing of this article. Scoutess’ honor! ) to participate in THE event of the moment – will they still be serving the 5 o’clock tea if it’s a wedding, I wonder ? –  here’s social network members’ chance to join the much awaited event WATCH ME HIJACK YOUR ACCOUNT WHILE YOU’RE HOPING THAT I’LL TELL YOU WHO THE … VIEWED YOUR PROFILE.

Shall we get the party started? What are friends for if not to invite you to an event about….the OFFICIAL app that’s gonna tell you who has viewed your profile. Oh, no! The torture, the pain. This is a true tragic conflict in a nutshell. Torn between the (almost divine, by now!) interdiction not to click any “see who viewed your profile” link and the almighty loyalty towards one’s friends, our hero (let’s call him Peek-a-boosus; sorry, ladies, you’ll just have to bear with me this time) yields in to temptation. And by Jove, he clicks!

There it goes: the road to social network perdition.

The voice …strike that…the page tells him to copy and paste a piece of code into his browser so he can enjoy the magic. “Oh, no, don’t do it, you fool!”, goes the antique choir, thunderbolts striking in the background. As tension builds up to almost unbearable heights, the hero resolutely and, alas!, mistakenly embraces his damned fate.

Following the copy/paste move, an event will be automatically be created in the name of Peek-a-boosus, whereby his entire circle of friends will find out that he has promised to attend the See who has viewed your profile mess.

Having some trouble with the copy/paste thingy, carissimo hero? Worry not! The guys down at Villains.Inc have got a nice video for you to watch.

Well, then, being a tragic hero is much easier these days…it seems. As you can see from the statistics below, the bad guys have clearly identified a new niche on the tutorial market. How to get yourself into trouble and end up covered in something other than glory….in two easy steps.

Almost 100,000 views? Not bad, not bad at all.

Ok, so what is there to do about this kind of things? First of all, if you’ve heard that see who viewed your profile IS trouble, then do try to stay away from it (or from its various peeking, seeking, stalking siblings).

Next, make sure you regularly check your profile for automatic posts published on your behalf. You probably know the list by now: comments that you DID not make (fishy app alert), things that you DID not like (likejacking alert), people that you DID not tag (tagjacking alert) or events that you DID not create (eventjacking alert).

Third, DO investigate a little bit about the promises various apps will make. A quick search on the net will help you understand what’s legitimate and not, what you can expect or not from an app.

Safe sharing, everyone!

This article is based on the technical information provided courtesy of George Petre, BitDefender Threat Intelligence Team Leader.

All product and company names mentioned herein are for identification purposes only and are the property of, and may be trademarks of, their respective owners.