Facebook tackled by its own value!
Facebook users where so outraged over the content that they engaged with it! That’s right, Hardcore Porn created a massive engagement practice that spread the content like crazy! As users commented on the photo’s, mostly in outrage, the Facebook algorithm moved the content to the top of the news feed. Users that commented made that material available on their users walls, making a single exploit on one account seen by 10,000 thousands due to the viral nature of that single account.
What happened?
Starting November 14, 2011 numerous Facebook users have noticed something disturbing in their news feed. Graphic porn pictures and disturbing images of sick and wounded animals started popping up as news. The pictures were horrible and shook up those who’ve seen them.
It made the news on November 15, when Facebook users started complaining on other social networks about what they saw. “The images I’ve seen today are enough to make me ill” said one tweet, “I’m ready to deactivate” tweeted another.
Facebook took notice.
Most of the day on the 15th, Facebook was quietly removing the images but admitting they don’t know how the breach happened.
That was enough to throw some experts into a frenzy. They recommend companies wishing to protect their staff from offensive content should block Facebook access to their employees until the problem is solved. Others tweeted they are staying away from Facebook until that time.
Facebook told ABC News on November 16: “We experienced a coordinated spam attack that exploited a browser vulnerability”. And they are working to fix the problem.
The way this spam works, they say, was tricking users to copy and paste a JavaScript code into the address bar, in exchange of free stuff. Once the code was entered, it opened the door for the spammers and to the full address book of the user.
Facebook said this attack was not aimed at stealing identities or credit card information. All the spammer wanted was to disrupt the service and shake the trust in Facebook.
About the Attack
Who is behind the attack? There were speculations that an Anonymous offshoot was behind it, but another group posted a video on YouTube at the end of October, claiming they are going to attack Facebook on November 5. Some, who claim to be talking for Anonymous, said they were not behind it at all.
On November 17, Facebook came out with an announcement, which basically said; “We know who you are, and we are coming after you”.
It is not clear how many of Facebook’s 800 million users were affected, however if you consider the average hardcore porn photo found by our users had over 300 comments on them and the average user now has over 300 friends, the simple math says that 300 x 300 x 300 x 300 x 300 x etc, well you get the picture.
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