The 10 Most Unsafe Facebook Pages

[Bugbatter]

Spammers have been increasing their momentum on Facebook, but a new pair of rankings that SafeToBe.Me debuted today show that the problem may have critical mass. Many of the most popular applications on the social network have the highest risk of spam and other dangers like phishing and forced file downloads.

SafeToBe.Me has scanned Facebook pages, status updates, comments and posts over the course of developing a security tool promising to protect your profile from various forms of malware, phishing, spam and other inappropriate content. You might feel motivated to add the beta version of SafeToBe.Me to your profile after checking out the developer’s rankings. There are two categories:

    * Most dangerous means that a post or comment contains a link leading to spamware, phishing or other malware.
    * Spammiest means that something increases your risk of getting spam postings on your wall or status update –  things in the ranking include at least one web address and get reposted repeatedly.

So, get a load of the very familiar looking things that SafeToBe.Me lists as the most problematic: HERE

[ky331]

thanks BB.

I am now running SafeToBe.Me, in addition to Defensio Social Web Security, and Norton Safe Web.

SafeToBe.Me immediately found two slightly "sensitive" words in the newsfeed from my "friends" --- so that's looking good.

Defensio has been VERY quiet recently... not sure when/if it's found anything (except for tests I intentionally tried).

Norton Safe Web has basically generated some false postives... objecting to some specific domain names, because they knew of SOME/other improper usages within that domain... however, the particular sites in my case were simply innocent pictures of doggies.

[ky331]

For others considering SafeToBe.Me, two initial comments:

1) in order to use SafeToBe.Me with Firefox, you need to tell FireFox to allow third-party cookies.   I had disabled that option --- for enhanced security --- and don't intend to change it for SafeToBe.me
It seems ironic that this "safety tool" forces one to lower Firefox's security... or abandon use of the tool in that browser.
In contrast, SafeToBe.Me is functioning as it should in IE where I use "Medium-High privacy" settings for cookies, and in Opera where I "Accept cookies only from the site I visit".

2) in only a short time using it, SafeToBe.Me has been very "active" in alerting me to "strong" language posted by "friends" as it passes through my news feed... but fortunately has not objected to any language on my wall itself.   I guess it's to be expected, in this day and age, that "strong" language will be used by many on facebook... so, unless I want to be continually bombarded by such "advisories", I may have to disable the languange monitor [unless there's a way to tweak it; e.g., to advise me only about language issues on my WALL].

There have been NO advisories from Defensio nor Norton during the corresponding time.

[faith_michele]

ky331,

Thanks for the tests of SafeToBe.Me.  I will try it with IE8 because you have a really good point about having to lower the security settings in FF in order for it to work correctly.  Defensio is the only Application that I have allowed in my FB and have been using it for a while now.  I also used it for my blog before the even came out with the FB Application.

Faith

[ky331]

I contacted SafeToBe.Me about the second point, suggesting that with respect to "strong language", they could offer users a choice between 
"monitor my WALL only", or "monitor the news feed as well as my wall".
I received a prompt response, indicating that "It is a very good observation - we will look into adding it as an option for future updates of the application".

I've just sent them another e-mail, questioning the first matter --- why they need third-party cookies in firefox --- when other "comparable" facebook security applications like Defensio and Norton do not.   I'll let you know what I hear from them.

[Bugbatter]

If I didn't have such an aversion to "Applications" I'd try SafeToBe.Me to see how it reacts to the latest Justin Bieber scam news from SOPHOS. Nevertheless, it is an application and until I know more about it, it wants too much of my information in order to function. I realize it needs this to monitor, but I'm not completely comfortable with it yet.

Access my basic information
Includes name, profile picture, gender, networks, user ID, list of friends, and any other information I've shared with everyone..Send me email
SafeToBe.Me may email me directly at [email address]. Post to my Wall
SafeToBe.Me may post status messages, notes, photos, and videos to my Wall. Access messages in my inbox.Access posts in my News Feed. Access my data any time
SafeToBe.Me may access my data when I'm not using the application. Access my profile information (Does this include what I have chosen to hide?)
Likes, Music, TV, Movies, Books, Quotes, Birthday, Hometown, Education History, Work History and Facebook Status.Access my friends' information
Birthdays, Hometowns, Likes, Music, TV, Movies, Books, Quotes, Education History, Work History and Facebook Statuses

[ky331]

It seems they're gonna be doing a weekly update...
here's a link to the top-ten for this week:
http://safetobeme.wordpress.com/2010/11/23/top-10-most-dangerous-and-spamiest-facebook-pages-november-23-2010/

--------------------------------

I have sent the company 3 e-mails, two with suggestions on how to improve their service/application, and one with a BAD-application link for their consideration.   I received relatively prompt, courteous, and interested responses to all three.  

[faith_michele]

That is quite refreshing, even to get a response.   

[ky331]

1) I've added BitDefender's Safego (mentioned by BB in another thread) to my FB security applications, so I'm now running 4.
2) Only SafeToBe.Me seems to be offering me any "comments" on a regular basis... the others feel like they're not even there.
However, I believe that many of the alerts I've been getting from SafeToBe.Me, about "possibly dangerous" links, have been F/P's... which they've just confirmed for me.   I'm writing here to again commend them on their degree of responsiveness to my communications --- it's so refreshing to experience.   I will concede their tool needs improvement to be effective... but every indication is they're taking the matter very seriously.