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Cisco Systems Inc.'s security research group, Talos, said Friday that cybercriminals continue to use Facebook Inc. as an open-air market to sell their services.
While many people may think that cybercriminal markets are confined to the so-called "dark Web", Cisco
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said in a blog post titled "Hide in Sight" that he had identified 74 groups on Facebook
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who peddled "dubious (at best) and illegal (at worst) activities" in recent months
"The majority of these groups use pretty obvious group names, including" Spam Professional "," Spammer & Hacker Professional "," Buy CVV on this store, pay by BTC … "and" Facebook hack (phishing) " . " Cisco's Talos said. "Despite some pretty obvious names, some of these groups have been able to stay on Facebook for eight years and have acquired tens of thousands of members."
According to Talos, some 385,000 Facebook users were members of these groups, which were easily found through searches using keywords such as "spam," "carding," or "CVV," the three-digit security code found at back of credit cards.
Talos said he tried to make groups disappear via Facebook's abuse reporting system, but these efforts seem to have looked like a "whack-a-mole" game.
"While some groups were removed immediately, other groups were only removed from specific positions," Talos said. "Finally, thanks to contact with Facebook's security team, the majority of malicious groups were quickly removed, but new groups continue to appear, and some are still active as of the date of publication."
Talos said he cooperated with Facebook to identify and eliminate these groups.
"These groups have violated our policies against spam and financial fraud and we have removed them," a Facebook spokesman told MarketWatch in a statement sent via email. "We know we need to be more vigilant and we are investing heavily to combat this kind of activity."
Facebook reported that Cisco was reporting batch groups: 41 in February on email tracking reporting tools, with 25 additional groups in late March, followed by a third round of eight groups last week.
Cisco's findings stem from another cybersecurity concern at Facebook, when the site revealed that millions of user passwords on Facebook and Instagram had been stored in a readable and unencrypted format. on its internal data storage systems.
Cisco shares rose 0.2% on Friday, while Facebook shares lost 0.2%, compared with a 0.4% gain in the S & P 500 index.
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and a 0.6% rise in the Nasdaq composite index, which is highly technology-driven
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