McAfee to help bar infected PCs from Facebook
Facebook is to use McAfee’s services to enhance its security checks of computers attempting to log on to the site. If a security threat is detected, the user may not be allowed to access the site until the problem is dealt with.
There has been a limited form of security checking on the site since last July, with compromised accounts automatically locked. Under the existing system, if an account displays suspicious behavior such as posting a link to a known malware site, the user is required to go through a security check, verify they are the account holder and change their password before being able to access the account.
With the new system in place, McAfee will provide Facebook with added detail on signs an account could be compromised. Where that happens, the user will now not only need to go through the verification process but will also need to run a McAfee scan and agree to its suggested fixing of any problems. In this instance, the scan will run directly from Facebook itself rather than involving software installation.
In return for providing the scanning, McAfee will be given marketing opportunities to promote discount offers on subscriptions on its security services. These will be seen by all Facebook users and won’t be related to the scans. Facebook notes it isn’t receiving any commission on related sales. The deal begins with a free six-month subscription for any users who sign up as a “fan” of McAfee and thus promote the firm’s Facebook page to their online contacts.
While the agreement makes a lot of sense in theory, it’s easy to see how things could go wrong. The sheer number of Facebook users means there only needs to be a small error rate before a decent number of people have their accounts wrongly identified as compromised. And of the resulting scans, the chances are that at least one person will wind up with an important file deleted as a false positive. That’s not going to play well for a scan that’s mandatory for using the site.
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