Facebook, Ping hit by iPhone spam attackers

Facebook has moved to reassure people affected by last weekend’s iPhone scam hack that their account data wasn’t compromised, while Apple’s new Ping service becomes a haven for spammers, according to two separate reports.

Facebook’s security team has posted a message on the walls of thousands of users who were hit by the free iPhone scam. The scam saw hackers posting images promoting a free iPhone on their pages.

Was security compromised?

No, says a note from the Facebook Security Team

“For a few hours on Sunday, there was a spamming incident on Facebook. During this time, photos (mostly of supposedly “free” iPhones) were posted to some people’s Walls, including yours. We’ve removed the photo from your Wall and fixed the issue that allowed spammers to do this. We’re sorry about the photo, but can assure you that did this did not affect the security of your account in any way.”

The question remains just how spammers were able to compromise security this way, Sophos notes.

A similar free iPhone scam has now begun hitting Apple’s Ping service. iFree iPhones are being offered from a dody URL. “Ping implements no spam or URL filtering,” said internet security firm Sophos, adding that the service is “drowning in scams and spams”.