Over 45000 Facebook Accounts Hijacked By Ramnit Worm

Over 45000 Facebook Accounts Hijacked By Ramnit Worm

A security company called Securlet has recently revealed that a worm called Ramnit has stolen the login id and password and hijacked over 4500 Facebook accounts. The worm seems to be spreading more frequently among Windows OS users. Securlet has stated that after gaining the login credentials, the hackers are manually signing into the account of the users and then they are sharing infected links on the walls of other users. By just clicking on the link, the browser allows the Ramnit worm to automatically download to your Windows driven computer and then it attacks the .exe files, html files, MS-Office files and your Outlook email service.


In just a short span of time Ramnit worm have hit headlines because of the fact that it is very quickly spreading across the world. Ramnit is not a new worm. This malicious program existed previously. However, it was modified to attack Facebook accounts. Ramnit is also listed in the Malware Protection Center of Microsoft as a virus that has the ability to infect .exe and html files and it can even spread to your removable drives. It robs confidential data such as FTP credentials and cookies of your web browser. It also acts as a backdoor and allows the hacker to access and hack your computer remotely.

When Facebook was contacted to speak on this issue, they confirmed to the fact that many Facebook accounts were compromised. And they also claimed that Ramnit was not getting multiplied through Facebook. The security experts of Facebook have looked into the issue and have stated that most of the information that has received is outdated. The security experts have already started fixing the infected accounts and restoring the security of those accounts. They said even though the Ramnit virus is not spreading through Facebook, they have working together with third-party companies to increases the safety standards of their anti-virus systems. They also expect Facebook users to not to click on links that appear strange and if any suspicious activity is observed, users are expected to report it immediately.
Facebook users who came to know that their accounts were compromised when they saw unusual posts being added through their accounts; they have already taken the efforts to reset their passwords. Hence, the details that the worm collected are void. Even more recent stats have shown that the number of Ramnit hijacked accounts have come down to 20,000.  Most of the hijacked accounts are from United Kingdom and France. So, it can be understood that the worm was set up in UK or France.