CERT-RO warns about notifications received by social media users

Romania's National Cyber Security and Response Team (CERT-RO) is warning about some problems that Internet users may encounter when receiving notifications on social media channels.

"Pay attention to notifications received on social media. Always check how plausible the information received is, validate its transmission with the sender, when you have suspicions, and also scan the link with a security solution, before clicking! Attackers use the method of registering pages with names that seem to represent the notification system of a social network (eg Confirming Page Information, Information Pages, etc.), to give an image of authority in the eyes of those who interact with posts (...)," CERT-RO writes on its Facebook page.

According to CERT-RO, an example of a Facebook account that publishes a 'warning' post for tagged pages contains a threat that the page's activity will be suspended, if the identity is not 'verified' by accessing a strategically placed link in the post , Agerpres informs.

"Once that link is accessed, it can lead to the device becoming infected with malware, or in other cases, it can lead to a phishing site where credentials are usually required to access the social media account. Once entered, the data get into the possession of attackers, who can hijack accounts for the execution of personal activities. Usually, such pages are created especially for this malicious purpose and have a limited lifespan," the team explains.

The problematic page was created on August 4, and users who encounter such posts can report these pages for attempted fraud (scam) to Facebook, according to CERT-RO.