“I can’t for the life of me figure out why Facebook doesn’t just ban shortened URLs and leave it at that”

But in the meantime, the best course of action to protect yourself from malware is to avoid clicking on unsolicited links

DAVEY WINDER

My attention was recently drawn to some malware that used, among other things, shortened (and therefore obfuscated) URLs as part of its distribution mechanism. This variant of the “Kilim” family of malware employed a typical tactic: posting a Facebook link that promises porn but actually leads straight to a malicious executable. The URL in this case was shortened using the ow.ly service – which, of course, isn’t complicit in the attack – to hide its real address, which in turn redirected to another shortened link that eventually arrived at that malicious executable. Facebook took swift action to block all links associated with this malware distribution, but it raised the question of why it allows shortened links at all. While Facebook monitors links posted overtly for malware distribution and spam, the Kilim…

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PC Pro (Digital) - 1 Issue, July 2015

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