Anonymous Unleashes Facebook Worm, 'Fawkes Virus'

Anonymous' buzzworthy threat to take down Facebook on November 5th (Guy Fawkes Day) came and went without a hitch. But did the hacktivist group really just drop its mission to take down the social network?

It appears not. Yesterday, Anonymous released a video (see below) saying its programmers have uploaded a "highly sophisticated worm" that takes control of your Facebook account and spreads to your friends' accounts without you being logged in.

According to the video, which you can see below, the so-called "Fawkes Virus" has advanced network self-replication and remote abilities. Once it seizes your account, it spreads itself by making friend requests, sending private messages, and posting malicious links to your friends' walls—all without your knowledge. Anonymous also said the Fawkes Virus resembles 2008's Koobface worm which attacked Facebook and MySpace, however the Fawkes virus also receives commands from a remote attacker so it acts like a botnet too.

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