It

 

To crack a poor joke, that’s one situation when being “out of” something is quite good: it does not mean that you actually lack one ingredient or another, but that you lack (almost) nothing. Indeed, this is the beginning of a new, more meaningful stage of the relationship between Safego and those who embrace the idea of having their social network accounts protected from all sorts of scams.

Last week, we kindly asked you to answer one of our Questions that was supposed to give us a snapshot of what’s still going strong out there in point of scam varieties. The results? The clan of Shocking video/photo contentis top of the scam world, with 124 votes, seconded by the good old See who viewed your profile, with 74 votes.Third runner up, the fake Facebook dislike button, which gathered 50 votes.

 

 

On a wider scale, in surveys conducted on larger samples, proportions may vary when it comes to slicing up the scam market by bait type. What’s there to stay and to make us all think about account safety differently is the “friends” component. Social networks are constructed in such a way as to offer members visibility into friends or contacts’ activities, while maintaining the illusion that your account is the virtual equivalent of a piece of land that you can defend all by yourself. Actually, while in the real world, putting up a fence or drawing up a border may give you a sense of control over the safety of that perimeter, in the virtual world, attaining this kind of control is more of a collective than of an individual effort. That’s because there are no borders separating accounts and one of my infected posts may end up being clicked by one of my friends’ friends. Someone I don’t even know, but who might pick it up because it’s indirectly endorsed by the friendship relationship: my friends’ friends are your friends too.

 

“Wait a minute, now! Are you trying to turn me against my friends here?”, you may say. Not at all, I’m just trying to point out the fact that this kind of knowledge may actually help you and your friends stay friends even online. Awareness about the consequences of your acts within this environment can only be beneficial. Knowledge sharing as well. If you know about or have spotted a scam, let your friends know! If you are using or have heard about a security solution for social networks, spread the word about it. Your account will be safe as long as your friends’ accounts are protected as well.

Stepping down from this philosophical pedestal, let’s get into the very practical (and, hopefully enticing) details of the “out of beta” launch. Here’s a summary of the new and improved features:

Friend Safe Net

With the Publish to Wall option enabled, Safego now automatically warns your friends when “fishy” links are posted in their Newsfeeds, through a message published directly on the respective friends’ Walls.

The newly added Friend’O’Meter feature helps you build a safe network of friends whose accounts are protected by Safego.

Extra Scanning Benefits – Bitdefender QuickScan

In less than 60 seconds, you get a safety status check provided by BitDefender QuickScan, the lightning fast PC scanner powered by the award-winning Bitdefender anti-malware technologies.ag r

Infected List Management

Based on your suggestion, the Infected items list can now be cleared of old items. Only the latest 5 fishy posts will remain visible.

In addition to that, the revamped interface will allow you to make the best of the app’s main functionality – antiscam scanning-. A new visual identity and a new logo have been created to mark this special occasion.

We’d like to thank all of you for your constant support and contribution to the improvement of the app. We strongly believe in the power of the Safego community that’s been built due to your generosity in helping one another and to your willingness to share security-related knowledge. This is your accomplishment as well and we’d like to give you a silent but heartfelt round of applause.

Still on the subject of evolution and change, we’ve come up with a nice infographic that illustrated the transformation of scam baits from the end of 2010 to mid 2011. Check it out here. http://www.hotforsecurity.com/blog/best-infographic-on-facebook-scam-evolution-likejacking-tagjacking-commentjacking-and-more-1102.html

 

As always, we’d love to hear from you at [email protected].

The Safego Team