Blog: Microsoft and Facebook Team Up to Put the Kibosh on Koobface

SANS NewsBites Vol. 11 Num. 27 (4/7/2009)

Microsoft and Facebook Team Up to Put the Kibosh on Koobface (April 6, 2009)

Microsoft and Facebook are working together to protect users from the Koobface worm. Koobface spreads through Facebook and MySpace social networking sites and infects users who run vulnerable versions of Windows. It steals login information so it can hijack accounts and spam users' contact lists. The spam usually contains a link to what is billed as a video, but users who click the link are told they must download a program to watch the clip. If users agree to the download, their machines become infected with malware. Microsoft has added Koobface to its Malicious Software Removal Tool (MSRT), which removed nearly 200,000 instances of Koobface from more than 133,000 computers in two weeks.

http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/vulnerabilities/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=216403016

http://www.scmagazineuk.com/Microsoft-and-Facebook-join-forces-to-battle-and-crush-Koobface-worm/article/130153/

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/04/06/koobface_clean_up/