Chances are your business has a social media presence in at least some capacity, as it’s a good way to drive traffic to your business. However, hackers want to leverage this benefit against you. A new malware specifically targets Facebook business accounts to launch malicious advertisement campaigns using your own money against you.

Budget Tracking Templates Gone Wrong

Imagine that you are presented with a free budgeting spreadsheet that you can open up in Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets. Sounds like a pretty good deal, right? Well, in most cases, it is going to be too good to be true, and most cases involving the aforementioned Facebook threat involve a tool just like this. The tool markets itself to business page admins through Facebook Messenger, and while it might seem like a good resource at first glance, it’s far from it.

Once the user opens the file, the malware called “NodeStealer” installs. It can sometimes come bundled with other threats that steal cryptocurrency, disable Microsoft Defender, and other issues. The primary threat, however, is the one that steals your social media credentials, specifically your Facebook business account. It will gain access to your accounts to deploy ads using your financial information to foot the bill. These ads are designed to spread more malware.

Have you ever tried to reclaim access to a Facebook account? If so, you know exactly the type of pain to expect, and hackers are taking advantage of the social media website’s lackluster support options to prolong your suffering.

Here’s How to Dodge This Threat

If you’re aware of the threat, you’ll be more likely to think twice before committing to the click. If someone starts to randomly offer you free resources, you should always do your research before indulging them with your trust. If it looks suspicious, chances are you should be careful around it.

Implementing multi-factor authentication is another effective tool to secure your Google, Facebook, Microsoft, LinkedIn, and Twitter/X accounts. In fact, if you can implement MFA for any account, you absolutely should. The additional layer of security might just save your bacon one of these days.

Finally, if you think that one of your systems has been breached or compromised, you need to take swift action. Change all of your passwords and notify the appropriate parties. There’s no good that can come from sweeping it under the rug.

415 IT can help you secure your business. Find out how by calling us at (415) 295-4898.