Do Not Open This Message on Social Media. It's a Virus.

Curiosity is a very powerful desire. It is a kind of desire stemming from a deprivation of knowledge that we think we can satiate by acting on it, such as by clicking a headline, a link, or even a virus pretending to be a secret message. That’s exactly what a new malware is expecting you’d do.

“I am send you a surprise message. Open this.”

Do not open this if you receive such a message or link on Facebook, Messenger, and other social media. This is a type of cyber-attack that preys on people’s curiosity on social media. According to Cyber Security Philippines - Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT), once you click it, you will be redirected to various websites with holiday greetings, where you will also be asked to input personal data (your name, email, etc.). As this happens, malicious files could already be running in your device’s background, accessing all your private information. Finally, the virus duplicates itself by using your credentials and sending the same message to other people in your contacts list without your knowledge.

What if you clicked the link already?

If you’ve already clicked the link before knowing it was malicious, then you have to change your passwords immediately, not only for your social media and email accounts, but also for your online banking accounts.

Cyber Security Philippines further advises that you reset your browsers, update your antivirus software, and perform a scan on your device.