WARNING: Zeus Banking Trojan Targets Facebook Users

Zeus has risen again, and we don’t mean the Greek god: Zscaler ThreatLabZ reports that a new Facebook worm is rapidly spreading the Zeus Banking Trojan.

According to Zscaler ThreatLabZ, the Zeus Banking Trojan logs on to the social network via compromised accounts and stolen credentials, proceeding to post photos which prompt users to download them. Users then receive a screen saver, complete with the Zeus Banking Trojan and other malicious files.

Zscaler ThreatLabZ Senior Security Researcher Mike Geide added:

Zeus is a Trojan designed to steal banking credentials. The newer variants of Zeus include P2P functionality making the botnet much more resistant to take-down.

Facebook continues to be a popular medium for malware attacks, given the easy propagation mechanism built into social networking. By definition, social networking is social. Facebook is built to easily allow people to share pictures, videos, and other content, and people trust what they are receiving from their friends. Malware, such as this recent example, can take advantage of the sharing mechanisms and users’ trust of their friends within social networking.

Geide has five suggestions on how to protect yourself from the likes of this Trojan, and one of his ideas includes installing Zscaler’s wares.

1. Enable TLS/SSL encryption on Facebook whenever possible. This prevents sidejacking attacks and snooping when accessing Facebook from public locations.
2. Install Zscaler’s free likejacking tool, delivered as a browser plug-in.
3. Think about and limit what you share and who you share it with. For example, you can opt not to share your birthday (as it’s sometimes used in security questions); you can opt not to be checked into places, so that your locations aren’t tracked; and you can limit what the public sees, as well as groups of friends see.
4. Think about and limit Facebook applications. Remove unwanted or unused Facebook applications. Review the permissions granted to Facebook applications before installing and using them.
5. Log out of Facebook when you’re not using it.

Readers: Have you been victimized by the Zeus Banking Trojan or other digital malady?

Graphic courtesy of abuse.ch.

Plan For Your Facebook Profile To Live On After You Die

Three Facebook users die every minute.

Now that we have your attention, Life Insurance Finder would like to discuss what happens to your digital life after your physical life ends.

Life Insurance Finder published a detailed guide on how to prepare your Facebook profile and other digital accounts for the inevitable, recommending, among other things, the creation of a digital will and the nomination of a digital executor.

On the postmortem in general, Life Insurance Finder recommends:

A physical will covers your wishes for your physical self, as well as your physical assets after your death. But what about your digital life? Now that we live almost as much online as we do in the physical world, we need to have a plan for managing our digital deaths, too. In order to carry out your digital death plan, you will need to create a digital will, as well as select a trustworthy digital executor to handle arrangements for your digital assets and digital legacy once you are gone. Just remember not to put the passwords for your digital assets in your actual will, as wills are made public at death.

And on Facebook specifically:

In December 2009, changes to their privacy policy meant that the people behind Facebook began deciding on your behalf exactly how comfortable you were about sharing your information, and with whom, while you’re still alive and quite capable of deciding for yourself. Upon your death, you’ll not only have to worry about Facebook setting up public default settings, you’ll also have your family deciding whether to deactivate, delete, download, or memorialize your profile. To do any of this, your family will still need your user name and password.

Three Facebook users die every minute. At this rate, that means that there will be 1.78 million Facebook accounts in limbo in 2011 because the majority of those users hadn’t prepared for their digital death. That’s the equivalent of the population of Western Australia, and as users and status updates continue to grow exponentially, how many deceased pages will there be in 10 years? How will Facebook and the probably non-tech-savvy families of these people manage this amount of digital content?

Readers: Do you have a plan in place for your digital death?

7 Killer Apps For Building Custom Tabs On Facebook

With such a great variety of Facebook page applications out there, it’s become even harder to find a suitable application that matches your business or personal goals.

Here’s a look at seven popular tools for adding miniature applications, or tabs, to pages on the social network.

Static HTML

Installation

1. Go to the Static FBML application.
2. Click the blue box labeled “Add Static HTML to a Page”
3. Choose the page the app to be added to and click “Add Static HTML: iframe tabs”
4. Once done, you will be taken to your Fan Page. Find new tab marked with a star, and click on it
5. Input content into fan and non-fan view using regular text or custom HTML (preferred)

Pros

- Recognizes HTML/CSS/Java Script and highlights the tags
- It’s good for pre-made coded templates

Cons

- Doesn’t host images, styles, media files (you’ll need to host supplementary files at your place)
- Requires HTML/CSS knowledge

Pricing

Free!

Summary

It took me few minutes to play around with the app and understand how it works. This is a nice freebie as long as you are pro in HTML/CSS or have a pre-made template. Is useless for a beginner.

TabFusion

Installation

1. Go to TabFusion‘s page and and click “Enter”
2. On the upper right, click “Sign in with Facebook”, Allow the app to communicate with your Facebook account
3. You’re on Dashboard: Click “Design” then “Website”
4. Choose tab icon, then go to TabMaker
5. Click “Enter TabMaker” and start editing my page
6. And now trouble begins… I’m lost and cannot publish my app. Need help!

Pros

I had no chance to see any. Share your experiences in the comments section, please.

Cons

- Process is too long and complicated
- Lack of editing tools and features

Pricing

Basic apps are free

Summary

Though the basic apps (such as website, music, etc) are free, the installation process os quite unfriendly. The price actually explains the quality. I couldn’t finish mine app.

TabSite

Installation

1. Go to the TabSite page and hit “Connect with Facebook”
2. Connect an app to Facebook by clicking Allow
3. Complete the registration form
4. Select Facebook Page and Level
5. Choose the name of the tab from the list and hit “Create Tab”
6. Click “Okay” to access page builder interface and start building the page

Pros

- Great number of add-ons such as forms, widgets
- Drag and drop management
- WYSIWYG text editor and custom HTML area

Cons

- Takes six steps to get to actual page builder
- Complicated and a bit unfriendly interface for a beginner
- Most features require Pro level

Pricing

Free: One page with branding
Bronze: $5 monthly, or $50 yearly
Silver: $10 monthly or $100 yearly
Gold: $15 monthly or $150 yearly

Summary

There are plenty of widgets available, but most are available with paid accounts only. The tab builder interface is equipped with a ruler grid, image library, pus layers and templates management. Unlike the usual click-to-upload feature, these guys a implemented drag-to-upload which made the editing process a bit busy and uncomfortable.

WelcomeTab

Installation

1. Go to the WelcomeTab page and hit “Activate this App”
2. Connect SocialAppsHQ to your Facebook account
3. Complete the registration form
4. Click “Connect with Facebook” and Allow the actual Welcome tab app to be connected
5. Choose a plan. Tried clicking “Free trial” few times with no luck? Basic plan costs $0.99.
6. Choose a page to connect app to. Again, this is where it keeps asking about payment, even if I choose Free

I guess it’s not my day, cause I’ve got no credit card with me to try this app. So, based on this two-minute overview, I can say the following.

Pros

I had no chance to test all handy features declared by developers. No free trial? I wasn’t prepared to pay (even 99 cents) for a try.

Cons

- Invalid free trial
- Takes 6 steps (at least) to get to actual builder
- The actual app page on Facebook looks unprofessional with 40% of the page being cut off

Pricing

Free trial (we’re not completely sure it’s working properly, however)
Starter: 99 cents a month
Standard: $9.99 monthly
Vertical: $29.99 monthly
White label: $99.99 monthly

Summary

The application developer has stuffed this app with Like Gate support, real-time analytics, css control, WYSIWYG editor, image hosting and an option to share content and invite friends.

IWipa

Installation

1. Go to iWipa‘s page on Facebook and click “Install”
2. Choose a page and connect an app (via normal Facebook app connection interface)
3. Click on new tab on your fan page and hit “Activate”
4. You’ll be taken to your account dashboard on Iwipa to start editing
5. Edit and publish

Pros

- WYSIWYG text editor and custom HTML area
- Fan-gating
- Google Analytics
- Appearance management

Cons

- Too busy and overloaded admin interface
- Broken links happen sometimes
- Most of the options require payments
- Uniform layout for all the pages

Pricing

Free level: pretty basic
Pro level: $9.97/mo & $99,97/yr

Summary

I lost myself few times before I built a simple page. I wish this interface was more friendly and could differentiate primary and secondary options to a user. As is, the app is too overloaded and busy for a regular user. Paying a free will give you quite good tool to build a tab for Facebook page. I wish the developers could fix the interface and make it more intuitive and friendly.

Lujure

Installation

1. Go to Lujure‘s official site and register for a free trial
2. Allow the app to connect to your Facebook account by clicking standard Allow box
3. Choose a page to add the app to & input the title for new tab
4. Edit the content via editor
5. Hit publish (that’s where you will have connect app to page by clicking “Add Lujure to my page”

Pros

- Very fast interface
- Free plan offers decent number of features
- Drag-and-drop management
- Community support forum

Cons

- Building process is not completely intuitive (some actions require you to hit “Done” or “OK” twice)
- Too expensive in case you want to use its advanced features
- Requires basic graphic application knowledge to customize the images

Pricing

Free: includes or one page with Lujure branding
Consultant: $30 per month
Business: $300 per month

Summary

Lujure is really great for beginners, and users with medium HTML knowledge. The paid seem a bit expensive in comparison to other apps. Despite its price, Lujure is a great alternative to build custom iframe tab for your Facebook page. Each box is edited in a separate popup block, and you can drag and drop the boxes. Measuring rulers help organize the design, which is cool. The ”like gate” and layout templates are useful, and the installation process is smooth and painless.

PageModo

Installation

1. Go to PageModo‘s website and click “Start Now”
2. Click “allow” to enable connection between app and your Facebook account
3. Select the page to add new app to
4. You’re on the dashboard: choose the theme for your tab
5. Start building the page via editor, and publish once done

Pros

- Intuitive interface
- A number of tab icons to choose from
- Variety of themes
- WYSIWYG text editor
- Ability to customize your tab label name

Cons

- Doesn’t have HTML editor
- Free plan requires to like the PageModo fan page

Pricing

Free: One page with PageModo branding
Basic: $6.25 monthly
Pro: $13.25 monthly
Agency: $33.25/mo

Summary

Pretty nice, useful and quick tool to build a custom tab. But to my opinion, for lack of an option to input custom HTML and JavaScript code this application might be useless for people with intermediate and advanced level of coding knowledge.

Conclusion

Hopefully you now have an idea about available do-it-yourself tools for building custom iFrame tabs on Facebook. Just know that none of this applications will be able to help you if you don’t have a basic sense of style and balance. Using pre-made layouts and templates will streamline your work, but knowing how to format images, code in HTML and JavaScript and set up cascading style sheets will enable you to do more with the tab applications.

Guest writer Lynn Marie Hope runs Host FB.