Although hoaxes are not as serious as malware making its way between users and stealing information, they are still a nuisance, clogging up communications, increasing the overall level of spam and perhaps leading people to make decisions for the wrong reasons.
This is according to Brett Myroff, CEO of Sophos SA, responding to the Facebook shutdown hoax, which has spread over the Internet so fast this week.
According to Sophos, more than one million Facebook users are believed to have fallen for a hoax claiming that the Web site will close its doors on 15 March.
A bogus news story, published by the faux news site 'Weekly World News', said Mark Zuckerberg had told reports that "managing [Facebook] has ruined my life. I need to put an end to all the madness."
The news article went on to quote another company official, Avrat Humarthi, vice-president of Technical Affairs at Facebook, as saying: "After 15 March, the whole Web site shuts down. So if you ever want to see your pictures again, I recommend you take them off the Internet. You won't be able to get them back once Facebook goes out of business."
In a panic, Facebook users have spread the story far and wide across the Internet. Although Facebook debunked the hoax via its Twitter account, users continue to pass the bogus messages onto their online friends, says the security solutions company.
Sophos believes that many people would not believe the report, which comes from a newspaper that has previously reported that George Clooney is running for president and that alien spacecrafts will visit earth in 2011.
“However, it only takes a small proportion of people to think it might be possible, to turn a joke of a news story into an Internet hoax,” says Myroff.
"While users would be wise to have a backup of their photographs, rather than rely on Facebook, it's nothing more than scare tactics to suggest that people have to do it before 15 March because Facebook is going to close down," Myroff says.
"Don't believe everything you read on the Internet, and think twice before you pass a story on to your friends,” he points out.
A Sophos video is available for embedding that demonstrates the scale of the hoax's impact and debunks the myth that the site will cease to be on the Ides of March.
Share