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Facebook fake antivirus site alert

April 13, 2010

A security researcher has found a malicious advertisement within a Facebook application that takes users to fake antivirus software.

Sandi Hardmeier, who studies malicious advertisements, has found that a banner advertisement saying 'Enterprise Network Time Synchronization Made Easy: Download now' is intermittently displayed with an application called Farm Town.

On display of the bad Shockwave Flash advertisement, users will find themselves redirected to a website selling fake antivirus software, Mr Hardmeier said in his blog.

Farm Town has over nine million monthly users, according to figures from Facebook. The application's developer SlashKey says on its ed into.

The notice on its site reads: "We believe at this time that it is harmless to your computer and a result of one or more of the ads on the site, but you should not follow any links to any software claiming to 'clean your system'. Most good antivirus/malware programme will catch and quarantine this malware."

Copyright © Press Association 2010

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