March 16, 2014

Protect Your Facebook Account with Bitdefender Safego




If you are on Facebook, you do know you can expose to different kind of threats which may even compromise your account. Even you have taken all the Internet security precautions and secured your Facebook account through available settings, you are still exposed to the content shared by your friends and followers. Hence, still one single click can ruin all your efforts and vulnerable the security of your account.


Threats on Facebook


Have you ever spotted any scams, or spammy posts or comments showed up in your newsfeed?

Well, I did!

How about a spammy message landing into your inbox from a total stranger or trusted friend?

It happened too!

Did a friend notified your account sending spammy messages, which still you couldn't find anything suspicious within your timeline? How many times you had to swear to convince it's not you? ;)

Someone unfriended / unfollowed you 'cause he / she has been added to specific groups by you, not once but multiple times? AND you had no idea what's going on.

There, I'm fortunate enough not to deal with them, except few times being added to some Facebook groups and my friends had no clue until I notify them. Don't misjudge your friends by one piece of action. Always ask and confirm.

Did you know such weirdness been evolving on Facebook? I hope you did. But if you had no idea, I'm glad you stop by to read this blog post. Be cautious! There is more than meets the eye.

Eventhough you knew about the threats and risks, and still managed to keep yourself away, don't you think it can be your account next time?


They are Tricky


Malware can be tricky enough! You may not find anything suspicious on your timeline, while your friends can witness the on going drama.

Few times I found suspicious links being shared from my Facebook friends, and promptly notified. Their first impression was mixed with REFUSAL. Then couple of screenshots could convince them to secure their Facebook accounts. What if I hadn't noticed? They might have been spamming unless someone else reached out to let them know.

When you click on a spam, it can take over permissions of your Facebook account quietly and starts to spread the spammy links around. Then if a friend of yours click on such a spammy link, his / her account will start to behave in the same way and end up getting more accounts infected. It's just a simple example.

It won't be the same trick all the time 'cause Facebook Security team takes necessary precautions for possible threats, and post-actions when they discover security holes. But again, someone figures out another way to breach the security.

What if you could scan through your Facebook account for potential malware threats? Yes, you can!


Bitdefender Safego


Last time, we have discussed how your friends can help recover your Facebook account to enhance the security of your Facebook account. This time, we are gonna take a look at a handy application which can keep your account safe from malware threats. Yeah, one can scan for malware threats. It's Bitdefender Safego.

Bitdefender Safego is a Facebook application integrated cloud scanning feature to protect your Facebook account from malware threats. It's simple, user friendly and you have nothing to worry about configuration either. Safego keep scanning your newsfeed for malicious content every minute and incoming messages as they receive. Then, logs any infected items found along with the last scanned items too.

Further it takes a peek into your current Facebook privacy settings, and suggests which actions should be taken to make your account more safer. For example, if your personal information are publicly accessible, it shows the information regarding that.

I've been using this app for last 5 months and I amazed to find how many malware threats I've been exposed to. However, I haven't even noticed them to click (or accidentally click) on any of them though. Yet prefers how it reports the infections and allows to warn friends through the app. Isn't that nice?

Now let me walk you through how to have Bitdefender Safego installed in your Facebook account. Are you saying NO to extra layer of security?


Steps:

1. Log in to your Facebook account.

2. Navigate to Bitdefender Safego application page.

3. Click Install App button to continue.


4. Click Okay button to allow permission and proceed.


5. If you would like to get weekly summary published on your timeline, click Okay. Else, skip.


6. Now it's already installed and automatically scan for malware threats from now on.


More Information:

* Navigate to Bitdefender Safego application page to access settings and scan details.

* You can find detected infected items under Infected Items.


If no infected items detected recently, click Show older button to display older threats identified.


* You can warn your friends about the infected items detected by clicking Warn button next to the item.


* You can manage notification settings in Settings pane.


* Statistics from the day installed, will be displayed under Statistics.


* Your account's privacy level and suggestions will be shown in Privacy pane.


* Click Refresh button to populate latest scan details and statistics.



Enjoy :-)




Awesome! Thanks for coming by and taking your time to read this post :) I hope you have learnt something today. Now you can share it with your friends and I'd love to hear from you too.






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Harleena Singh said...

Hi Mayura,


This is awesome information :)

Honestly speaking, I AM facing problems on my Facebook, though it's not related to people commenting or posting on my wall as I delete those if I don't know them and never open any links.


However, for the past 1 month whenever I share my posts on any FB group, people say that the link post I shared is spam! Sometimes this problem is not there also, and then it comes again. They have to check the unspam button if they wish to visit the link...strange! Perhaps Bitdefender might be the answer - I just don't know what to do about it because I've complained SO many times to FB support, but no reply from them.


Moreover, my profile is not spam, and I can share people's post or normal updates too, it's just my blog that either someone is marking as spam, due to reasons best known to them (because it's just been happening past 1 odd month, earlier all was fine), or there is something else going on. I must check this out at once.


Thanks so much for sharing this useful information with us. Have a nice weekend :)

Bren said...

Oh this is superb Mayura! Thank you so much for sharing it. I went ahead and activated it and hope that it catches and notifies me of any threats. I've also shared this along so my friends and networks can further protect themselves! Where did you find out about this? It's great!

Mayura De Silva said...

Hey Brenda,

You're welcome dear :) Ah... I have no idea how I stumbled upon this app. May be as I explore through the Facebook apps on security.

Awesome! Now you can go over to the app's page and see what Safego has been spotting on your newsfeed. Facebook is kinda clean than before, but you never know what's trying to compromise yours. At least, Safego gives us a heads up :)

Thanks for trying it out and spreading the word around, Brenda :)

Cheers...

Harleena Singh said...

Perhaps you are right Mayura - I do share one after the other because of lack of time as I share on FB on one day, G+ on another and other networks on the 3rd, because of the number of groups or communities present.


Giving a gap of one minute would mean taking me 2-3 hours for the various groups! Oh dear...that would make me sit for hours, but I think I should try it out and see what happens. However, it happens only sometimes and why not always then I wonder.


I did install the Bitdefender, though all was clear and nothing spammy was found, but I couldn't see the Show Older button anywhere on my dashboard? I guess I don't lose anything by installing it and it would only tighten my security further. Thanks once again for this :)


Going to share it right away :)

Mayura De Silva said...

I get it, Harleena :) You have joined so many groups. Hence you may find a tool helpful in your scenario. So you can schedule all at one sitting, but to be published at different times. Isn't it?

Anyway, you are not in a serious trouble yet as you can share as you wish. As you mentioned, it wasn't happened all the time you were sharing. You may have shared in a hurry few times, and Facebook flagged only at those times. It was temporary.

May be you can share as you did, but limit the number per 2 - 3 minutes and see how it goes. Or open all groups in different tabs and have links pasted, but click post button in different times. You can find a better way :)

I wish if i could give a less and specific time frame as an interval. But there's no reference about how many links can be shared within a minute without being flagged as spam. Just coming from the experience.

Show older button visible only if Safego spotted infected items in previous months, Harleena :) As you just installed it and no threats found, that button doesn't showing up for you right now. Safego shows mine haven't come across threats for last 4 months :)

Harleena Singh said...

Absolutely! I think I should use Hootesuite in such a case though mine account is just linked with Twitter on that as yet - but I should check it out.


Oh yes...I can share everything with ease, so I am not banned as such and sometimes those captcha show, you type it and your post is shared, and sometimes people see it as a spam site, and sometimes there is just NO issue at all - so makes me wonder if some person is spamming my blog on purpose out of jealousy - you never know!


I don't paste links, nor do I open any group - I share it directly from my blog - the FB share button on top of the post if you see, just like I share your post from the orange share button directly on my Aha!NOW page on FB.


Oh...that's good! I was just wondering where my button vanished :)

Thanks so much for clearing all this up. I think I should schedule things on Hootesuite more now. :)

Mayura De Silva said...

I hope it would be the solution for you then, Harleena :) But again, not sure how many groups you can connect in free account.

Yeah, some do on purpose 'cause it's easier and less risky than some other methods, Harleena. Same happened to me on AdSense. I hope your blog is clean as you have a security plugin installed though. Yet better check the status regularly.

Oh! You are using Facebook button :) Well, I just go over and share when it comes to Facebook. Hmm... Still opening groups in different tabs and sharing not bad, eh? You may have to bookmark all of 'em in one folder though.

You're always welcome dear :) I'm glad we talked it through, and hope your sharing strategy works even better from now on. Time to count number of groups you joined I guess.

Lisa Buben said...

Hi Mayura, I've never heard of this one, I can't wait to try it out. And share with my Facebook friends too. I remember once Harleena lost her FB account for days or weeks - so this would help protect us from having that happen. Thanks for sharing with us via another great easy to follow tutorial Mayura!

Lisa Buben said...

PS, that was so easy and quick to install Mayura!

Sue Neal said...

Thanks so much for this Mayura - going to try it straight away! An excellent share :)

Mayura De Silva said...

Hi Sue,

Yippidy-Do-Da! You're welcome dear :) Try it out and I hope you will like having extra layer of protection for Facebook.

Thanks for coming by and sharing your comment, Sue :)

Cheers...

Jeevan Jacob John said...

Wow, I didn't even know that they had safety programs for FB :D

That is pretty cool!

Anyways, I have seen a few folks around...but, that's over the years. These days, I don't even check the time line (the only reason I go to FB is to check comics and superhero news - interest lists are a great way to keep up with all of that, without having to visit each website!).

I did install this app..and seems like I am squeaky clean;)

Thank you for sharing this, Mayura :) Appreciate it!

Corina Ramos said...

Thank you so much for this info! I've had to remove some comments from my feed because they were spammy.


I hadn't heard about Bitdefender Safego until today. As usual Mayura you save the day! Thank you for sharing this with us and for showing us how to set it up!


I'm definitely going to take care of this!

Mayura De Silva said...

Hi Jeevan,

You're welcome mate :)

Awesome! Then, your account is clean too. As I noticed, Safego couldn't find any threats for last 4 months. May be Facebook is getting better with security?

Yeah, it's pretty cool indeed! I had no idea security apps could be existed and now I wonder why not? :D Probably, there will be apps with advanced features. But I like this one as it's automated and very easy to set up too.


Well, I mostly do check out newsfeed to know what's new with friends and page updates ;) Sad that Facebook doesn't show all updates even I have limited number of friends.

Thanks for installing the app and sharing your thoughts on it, Jeevan :)

Cheers...

Mayura De Silva said...

Hi Corina,


You're very welcome dear :) Ouch! So you have been dealing with spammers lately? I'm craving for one 'cause I couldn't find one lately on Facebook :D

Thanks for the kind words dear :) Ha ha... It's not me, but Safego is the one helps with extra protection. As Lisa mentioned, it's pretty easier and quick to set up too.

I hope you will like the app dear. Oh! May be already installed? :)

Thanks for coming by, and sharing your thoughts and experience on Facebook threats, Corina :)

Cheers...

Sylviane Nuccio said...

Hi Mayura,


Long time no see. Sorry lots of things happened to me these past couple of weeks.


The worst thing that has ever happened to me on Facebook was my account hacked (or something like that) and they were posting advertisement with my name and picture on groups I belonged to, and the groups thought it was me. That was terrible.


Thankfully it stopped when I changed my email and password.


Thanks for another great tutorial.

Mayura De Silva said...

Hi Sylviane,

Oh! No need to feel sorry at all dear :) You are always welcome here and I know you do when you find time. Talking about commenting, last week I couldn't been to any blog.

That's terrible! As it involves your profile, others might start to think it's you, but those who familiar about spams know your account has been compromised or so :) Glad you could put end to all of that by changing your credentials.

I hope the Safego app will give more insights about the threats you come across and you won't have to go through that terrible experience again, Sylviane :) Give it a try and you will like it.

Thanks for stopping by and sharing the experience you had on breach of security on Facebook, Sylviane :)

Cheers...

Debbie Doglady said...

Hi Mayura; This is a very handy tool! Thanks so much for making us aware of it. My scan came out clean, thank goodness. Will definitely share so others may benefit. Have a good weekend. :)

Adrienne said...

Hey Mayura,

I'm SO careful with this and I've never had any issues with my Facebook account. When I log-in I report my browser, etc. and have never had any issues with that either. Now I've had friends that have dealt with this stuff but I never click on links that look suspicious or spammy.


I have malware protection on my computer so probably if I ever run across this I might consider this but I'm glad there is a program out there to help with this because it's never fun to deal with this stuff.


Thanks for reporting this for us. Great to know.


~Adrienne

Mayura De Silva said...

Hey Debbie,

You're most welcome dear :) Awesome! So you have nothing worry right now. Keep checking and it will notify what's going on out there.

Handy, it is :) Who would have thought there's an security app for Facebook? I hope you won't have to bother much about security with additional protection.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts after trying it out, and spreading the love around, Debbie :)

You have a wonderful weekend ahead too dear!

Cheers...

Mayura De Silva said...

Hi Adrienne,

You're always welcome dear :) With all those weird stuff happening online, we should be careful. Shouldn't we?

I'm glad to hear you have already taken necessary security precautions and very careful about what you stumble upon on Facebook, Adrienne. Of course, even with security software installed, we have to careful about our own actions :)

It's definitely worth investing on Malware protection and you have it too :) However, the thing about Anti-Malware software is that they are yet incapable of scanning through your Facebook newsfeed, Adrienne.

They can tackle suspicious links right after you clicked on 'em. But can't scan through your Facebook newsfeed or messages without acquiring permission / authorization from your Facebook account dear. Hence it's scanning the external links / scripts execute on web browser, not the suspicious links appears on social profiles or web pages.

Hence Safego can reach where our Anti-Malware software can't, and acts as a preventative mechanism as it automatically scans through links, messages and updates you come across on Facebook, Adrienne :)

I hope I'm making sense throughout my explanation :D lol...

Considering that fact, and if your Anti-Malware software has no specific Facebook app to scan newsfeed, you can enhance the protection of your Facebook account with Safego too. I hope you will give it a try and see how it works out, if you like dear :)

Thanks for sharing your tactics on securing Facebook, and bringing in a very good point on why we need this app besides our Anti-Malware software, Adrienne :)

Cheers...

Donna Merrill said...

Mayura,
You never cease to amaze me! I had no idea this existed on Facebook. A while ago, people used me to spam. Now I don't have to worry about it again. Plus, I won't have to go through all the trouble of going through my news feed and getting rid of unwanted people.
This is better than ice cream!!!! Thank you so much for another wonderful lesson and I'll get right on it.

-Donna

Mayura De Silva said...

Hi Donna,

You're always welcome and thanks for your kind words dear! Ha ha... I'd prefer an ice cream though ;)

Really? That's terrible! I hope you won't have to deal with 'em again, Donna. Safego will keep you safe for some extent and inform what's going on. Yet we have to take security precautions and be careful, 'cause security apps are not perfect solutions.

I hope you will embrace the additional protection and secure your account :)

Thanks for coming by, and sharing your thoughts and experience on Facebook security, Donna :)

Cheers...

Sue Price said...

Hi Mayura

What an awesome tutorial as usual. I am going to get it because I do get spammy links quite a bit and even though I do not click them it concerns me.

I know friends who have had their accounts hacked and people posing to be them. I love Facebook but there are concerns.

Thanks Mayura

Sue

Sue Price said...

Done and it was easy and I am safe :-)

Mayura De Silva said...

Hi Sue,

Thanks for the kind words dear :) You're very welcome!

Awesome! So you almost had it installed and no threats reported :) Yeah, way too easy to install too.

Oops... Spammers are tricky and I'm glad you are clever on spotting them dear. We don't wanna find our accounts involved in a suspicious behavior or getting hacked. With additional protection, I hope you will find even more clues about the security holes and assure the safety.

Thanks for sharing your feedback on the Safego after trying it out, and mentioning your security concerns Sue :)

Cheers...