Watch Out For SVG in Facebook Messenger To Avoid Ransomware

By now, you’re probably familiar with the ransomware known as “Locky.” It’s an insidious form of malware that completely locks down your computer and encrypts all your files. Once it has taken root in your system, you’ve only got two choices, neither of them good.

You can either restore your machine from whatever backups you have, or you can pay the BitCoin ransom to get your system and your files back.

What you may not be aware of is that hackers have found a new way of spreading the software. Increasingly, they’re using the Facebook Messenger app, and in particular, they’re embedding the software inside SVG graphics files.

If you get a Facebook message, even if it is from a known and trusted source, and that message contains an SVG file, don’t click it under any circumstance. Your friend’s Facebook account may have been compromised and could be used by the hackers to spread their malware to other systems.

SVG files are Scalable Vector Graphics and have the convenient (and unfortunate, in this instance) ability to house embedded content, such as Javascripts. This is all a hacker needs to infect your system with Locky, or other forms of malware.

If you’ve got a team dedicated to increasing your brand’s awareness on Facebook, it’s important to make them aware of this fact as soon as possible in order to prevent any unfortunate instances of Locky winding up on your company’s network.

The state of digital security is always a precarious one, but this is an especially nasty attack vector because it seems so innocuous. If you’re not sure you have the manpower to cope with this and other evolving threats, then give us a call today, and one of our talented experts will be happy to talk with you about your specific situation and outline ways we can help.