Koobface

What Does Koobface Mean?

Koobface is a computer worm that targets users through social media. Platforms that it attacks include Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X and Linux. It is classified as a bot, which means it can connect to command and control servers. Once Koobface has control of a host (which is in turn referred to as a “zombie host”) it can harvest all sorts of personal information, significantly compromising data and security.

Techopedia Explains Koobface

Koobface first appeared on social media in 2008. It typically posts a link to what appears to be a video on social media, but when the external link is opened there is a false Flash update prompt, which instead introduces Koobface into the system.

Common names for the worm’s process that may show up in the infected system’s activity/process monitor are:

Fbtre6.exe
Mstre6.exe
Freddy35.exe
Websrvx.exe
Captcha6.exe
Bolivar28.exe
Ld12.exe

The name “Koobface” is an anagram of “Facebook,” since it proliferates through social media.

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Margaret Rouse

Technology Expert

Margaret is an award-winning technical writer and teacher known for her ability to explain complex technical subjects to a non-technical business audience. Over the past twenty years, her IT definitions have been published by Que in an encyclopedia of technology terms and cited in articles by the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine, and Discovery Magazine. She joined Techopedia in 2011. Margaret's idea of a fun day is helping IT and business professionals learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages.

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