I’ve blogged once or twice on Social Media before, and I always preface my post with “I am NOT a social media expert.” Today, I proved it.
The day started with an email from a friend on Facebook that read “Hello – check out Best.at.” Thinking something great had happened for this friend, I followed the link and logged into Facebook. Nothing happened – or so I thought. The next thing I knew, I was seeing messages go out to MY Facebook Friends with a similar message. Oh No – a worm!
Now, realizing how dumb I was to fall for this scam, I had to try to fix it.
Step 1. Warn others!
Using Facebook and Twitter I immediately let my friends know there was a problem so it did not happen to them too.
Joan Koerber-Walker If you get a Facebook message from me or anyone else that reads _____.at, Don’t Open it. It is not from me. It’s a worm. I got one and it sent a message to my friends on Facebook!
Step 2. Clean up your mess!
Figure out how to fix your mistake. Do some home work, call on experts, fix the problem so it does not keep happening.
Step 3. Help others fix the problem!
Since I started this mess on Facebook, I used Facebook to send out the fix:
Joan Koerber-Walker If you visit a website – “______.at” and it starts sending messages to your friend list on Facebook here is what you should do:
1. Immediately change your FB password.
2. Run a virus scan on your computer – just in case.
3. Post a message like this one on FB, Twitter etc,. telling folks not to open a website at “____.at” and if you do how to fix it.
4. Apologize, like I am doing now, for being dumb enough to do it.
While catching my mistake, cleaning up my mess, and helping others with the problem, I have heard from lots of my Facebook friends thanking me for letting them know before they got hacked . Others said “thanks for sharing the fix.” Many shared similar experiences or stories of mistakes they had made and how things turned out when they were proactive about fixing them.
So I learned a few lessons today –
1. NEVER open a website ending in .AT or sign into Facebook or other sites unless I am SURE I know what they are.
2. Everyone makes mistakes. What matters is what you do next.
Thanks for checking in. Stay tuned…
Joan Koerber-Walker