URL Flagged For Spam: You Guys Seeing This? (3)

In 2008, Facebook launched a security system called “the link shim” that checks the URL whenever a link is clicked to check the destination. If it is on a blacklist, then a warning pops up notifying the user he could be headed to a malicious website:

Facebook-SPAM-warning

Since the link shim checks URLs at click time as opposed to display time, Facebook can prevent users from accessing malicious content. In addition to its internal and external blacklists, Facebook uses advanced machine learning classifiers to check the authenticity of the sender as well as other inputs. Malicious URLs that have been sent over e-mail are also blocked since all links to non-facebook.com URLs in e-mail are rewritten to first go through the link shim.

The Facebook Security page provides constant updates. You can get the latest information about how to safely use your Facebook profile and pages, as well as a few techniques Facebook employs to protect users from being targets of malware sharing activities.

Although it is good to know that you’re protected by the social platform, offer your help by always reporting any suspicious links you may find on your timeline. This crowd-sourcing effort helps protect other users as well.