Rogue Facebook app creates malign buzz

A Facebook application using misleading messages spread quickly over the weekend. The application itself did no harm beyond making a mess but may be part of an indirect attempt to attract surfers towards sites promoting scareware packages.

The application, Error Check System, posed as notification of errors in a Facebook user's profile. Attempting to view these supposed errors allowed the application to activate. This, in turn, allowed the application to access to the affected user's friends, who were then spammed with notifications, further spreading the social networking chain-letter.

The Unofficial Facebook blog reports that the application created a message blizzard over the weekend.

The Facebook application performs no malign activity on the social network site beyond spreading around and annoying people. However searches for the phrase "Error Check System" via Google and other search engines return numerous results pointing to sites punting rogue antivirus (AKA scareware) packages. The promotion of fake antimalware sites may therefore be the ultimate aim of the miscreants behind the attack, anti-virus firm F-Secure speculates. ®