Who Will Be Your Valentine Virus Warning

Outline
A warning is spreading on Facebook claiming that posts are spreading relating to ‘seeing who your Valentine will be’ that actually harbor a virus.



Brief Analysis
Any time an app on Facebook unexpectedly posts to the users friends without the user initiating the post, there will always be somebody who jumps to the conclusion that it’s a virus. This is a good illustration of why users should actually read those permissions, as the user had to actively grant the app permission to do exactly what they are complaining about.

Enter your email address to subscribe to the Hoax-Slayer Newsletter:

Last updated: January 18, 2013
First published: January 18, 2013
Article written by Brett M. Christensen
Written and researched by David M. White
About Hoax-Slayer

Example

Detailed Analysis
As can be seen in the image above, the “My Valentine 2013” app requests some fairly intrusive permissions. 'Access to basic information’ is standard operating procedure for any app – most apps have to access some level of information to work. Even the ‘post on my behalf’ is not especially troubling. Again – standard operating procedure for most apps. Once it moves into accessing photos and accessing the inbox, however, the trouble antenna should be quivering a bit. And that is just the first step.

After the app is installed, it will send the same invitation the user received to all the user’s friends. The fact that an app sends out invitations doesn’t make it malicious. But every time any app starts sending out mass requests users go into panic mode and send out the misleading virus 'warning' messages. Being spammy does not make something a virus.

These warnings also completely fail to offer the most helpful advice to follow should you find your page being littered by this sort of app invite. If you’re getting these invites and don’t want to see it ever again, block the app – simply go to the App Center (look on the left hand side of the newsfeed), click Requests and where you see the invite click the ‘x’ in the upper right corner and block the application.

Last updated: January 18, 2013
First published: January 18, 2013
Article written by Brett M. Christensen
Written and researched by David M. White
About Hoax-Slayer