Just a little more info it looks like farmville is a registered game of zynga.com and taking a look at their website they look like a legitimate company and not one that would be invested in spyware.
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Can you get a virus from playing an application game on Facebook?
Hey my neighbor has an issue with the computer. It crashed several times and now it can't System restore anymore. She says it is because her kid played a game on Facebook called, "Farmville". It is an application that they added to their profile and plays it. Is this possible for this to happen? She even uses Firefox. Can an application on Facebook corrupt a computer? Thanks.
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Answers
I knew it couldnt hurt you cause i actually played it for a while. There are certain applications etc on facebook that can hurt you. There are worms, viruses, password stealers just like any other site on the net. One of the big facebook virus/worms was called koobface and was out pretty recently.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wi
But that Koobface is not an actual Facebook Application that you install to your profile. It is a message that sends itself after someone downloads and runs it. And it asks people to download and run on their computer.
My question is, can you get a virus from just installing an application to your profile....
I wasnt giving that as a way to get infected via application I was just using it as an eexample. And in my mind that is more likely how the computer got infected. If your a kid and you get a message that looks like its from your friend your probably gonna run it. I would bet that was the attack vector that got this machine FUBAR.
As far as the applications themselves rely on the facebook API so I dont think there are any out there (currently) that can hurt you.
Right but the thing is that the computer was infected. We ran system restore. Then the computer crashed again and my neighbor said that her son did play farmville and that is why they think it caused the crash. But I doubt the son clicked the same link again. I agree with you on the Farmville app considering its popularity so I was wondering about the other facebook apps. I did a lotta research and found that the only things the apps do dangerous are maybe privacy issues and redirecting to other sites...
Yea once you allow an app access to your profile it allows it to poll alot of your information, contacts, friends, etc. While a privacy issue it cant infect your machine. Your second point about the site redirects could possibly be it. Maybe the kid tried another app which led him to a malicious page. Unless the mother was watching him 100% of the time there no real way to tell what app he played or where he may have gone.
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by: xxdcmastPosted on 2009-09-21 at 13:15:20ID: 25387136
I would say an application on facebook could corrupt a computer if it were a malicious application. I know that farmville is a legitimate game and one of the more widespread out there on facebook. Its possible they got it from facebook but I wouldnt point the finger at farmville.