Trend Micro - a Japan-based IT security company - has partnered with Facebook to incorporate its security solution, HouseCall, into the social network in a bid to protect users from malware.
The solution is already available and aims to protect more than one billion Facebook users worldwide, says Trend Micro.
The company describes Facebook as a "tempting target for spammers and criminals" in a statement, adding that Housecall aims to "mitigate these threats by detecting and alerting users to malicious activity that could compromise user security and privacy".
Kevin Simzer, chief marketing officer for Trend Micro, says: "HouseCall will give Facebook users an additional safeguard against the malicious attacks that interacting online can bring."
According to Trend Micro, "potentially infected users are identified and notified by Facebook with the option to download the free version of HouseCall, which will check for and remove malware". The company notes HouseCall will begin its scan on the affected accounts of users who have downloaded it, while they will be able to continue using Facebook during scanning.
"Once the scan is complete, a message will alert users if the cleanup was successful or unsuccessful," continues the statement.
Chetan Gowda, software engineer at Facebook, says incorporating HouseCall will increase the social network's ability to protect users from threats.
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