You may have noticed recently that your Facebook newsfeed has taken a turn for the worse, a 'Self-Inflicted Javascript injection' was the cause; what this means is that when you click on a link posted in your newsfeed, a piece of code worms its way into your profile and likes some truly shocking links. A piece of code similar to this, was responsible for previous Facebook attacks, including, “Hey are you still there?,” “You look so stupid in this video,” and various scams related to the death of Osama Bin Laden.
The images, which included hardcore pornography, extreme violence, animal abuse and even photoshopped images of Justin Bieber in a risky situation were visible to your friends, but not yourself. Facebook rep Andrew Noyes told Mashable, "We have recently experienced an increase in reports and we are investigating and addressing the issue".
No one has stepped up as of yet to take responsibility for the attack, although a lot of fingers are being pointed at Anonymous, who threatened to attack Facebook earlier this month.
Whoever is responsible for the attack they seem to have succeeded in damaging Facebook's already delicate privacy reputation, with Gawker reporting that groups such as, "I remember when Facebook WASN'T a porn site!" springing up left right and centre.
An attack such as this is the last thing Facebook needs right now,“It’s precisely this kind of problem which is likely to drive people away from the site,” wrote online security firm, Sophos' senior technology consultant Graham Cluley in a blog post. “Facebook needs to get a handle on this problem quickly, and prevent it from happening on such a scale again.” With Google's social network growing at a rapid pace, reporting their 3rd biggest week in new users last week, integrating 3rd party apps such as Hootsuite, and recently launching their Android music platform, Facebook can ill afford to let anything slip.
Did you or any of your friends fall victim to this latest attack?
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