Facebook, Kaspersky Team Up Against Malicious Software

With so many people using Facebook (FB), it’s natural the company would want to protect its users from malicious software—even if some people worry about protecting their own privacy from Facebook itself when using the social network. To that end, Facebook has teamed up with security firm Kaspersky Lab to offer free anti-malware scans to users in cases of suspicious account activity.

If Facebook’s security team detects an account might be infected by malware, it is now recommending to the user a free anti-malware scan called the Kaspersky Malware Scan for Facebook.

There are a number of ways Facebook accounts can be corrupted by malicious software. One of the most prevalent ways is through phishing, with one in five phishing scams targeting Facebook notifications, according to a blog post by Kaspersky’s Kate Kochetova on the company website. There are a number of Trojans targeting Facebook users as well, she said.

“If you happen to see some ‘likes’ that you never clicked or statuses that you never posted, or just suspect that your PC or smartphone might be infected with malware, you can scan your device with a good security solution before the threat of a Facebook account suspension,” Kochetova said.

Thanks to the partnership between Facebook and Kaspersky, if it’s possible an account is corrupted, a user will see a window pop up suggesting that his or her computer needs to be cleaned, according to Kochetova. The user can click on a “Get Started” button to start the scan and ensure its account is free of malware.

“We advise users to be patient and wait for the scan to complete,” she said. “Any security issues, along with the suggested steps to resolve them, will be displayed upon scan completion.”

Kaspersky and Facebook have good reason to suggest people let the scan do its thing if they experience this scenario, according to Kochetova. In the last three months alone, Kaspersky has protected more than 260,000 Facebook users through the scan, she said.

Facebook has a history of tapping security partners to protect its users from malware. Back in 2012, the social network launched the Facebook Anti-Virus Marketplace, offering users anti-malware from Microsoft, McAfee, TrendMicro, Sophos and Symantec to help them avoid security problems when using Facebook.