A new computer worm, Koobface.GQ has been detected as trying to spread through Facebook. What is a worm? it’s a type of malicious software that propagates by self-replication. In this case, the Koobface.GQ’s main aim is to spread itself via the social network Facebook and affect as many computers as possible. It displays a message on screen requiring users to enter some characters in order to avoid a computer restart. Only computers with Windows XP/2003 and earlier operating systems are potentially affected.

It publishes a link to a video in the affected user’s Facebook main site, which will be shared to all their contacts. If the link is followed, a website similar to YouTube’s (actually YuoTube) is displayed. If run, it will display a message asking for some characters to be entered in a field, to prevent the computer from shutting down within 3 minutes. After the 3 minutes have gone by, the computer will not be restarted, but if the characters are not typed, the message will not disappear and the computer will be blocked until users enter the characters.

What to do? make sure you have a good and up-to-date (important) virus scanner, and perform a full scan. If you need help with this or any other malware threat, feel free to contact me.

And make sure you keep good web surfing and emailing habits at all times.

But in any case, if infected, don’t neglect it. If you do, you might be opening a can of… well, them.