Be extremely careful what you click on Facebook (which frankly we shouldn’t have to tell you in 2015, but here we are). Reports are spreading about a malware (short for “malicious software” that can take control of certain operation of your computer) virus called Vietnam Rose that is currently spreading through Facebook, particularly among Indonesian users.
Users are getting infected by Vietnam Rose after they click on links disguised as pornographic pictures posted on Facebook. Clicking on the photos takes users to a site that automatically downloads the malware onto their computers, which then takes over the user’s Facebook account and posts more pornographic links through their accounts, as many as five to ten times per day.
An example of a post by Vietnam Rose on Facebook (courtesy of and censored by Vaksin.com)
Despite being called Vietnam Rose, most of the infected users seems to be located in Indonesia, supposedly because the malware links were first posted into certain closed Indonesian FB discussion groups, where they could propagate freely.
Vietnam Rose is hardly the first such malware virus to hit Indonesian Facebook accounts. There was a similar malware trap, disguised as Gadis Mabuk XXX (Drunk Girls XXX), that spread throughout Indonesian corners of the social network towards the end of 2014.
“Compared to the Drunk Girls, Vietnam Rose is much more dangerous. You could say it’s nine times worse, “said Alfons Tanujaya, an antivirus expert of Vaksincom, as quoted by CNN Indonesia. He added that there were about 5,000 Indonesian FB accounts affected by the malware.
Although Facebook has it’s own virus and malware blocking systems, it appears as if Vietnam Rose is sophisticated enough to avoid their defenses. Alfons said security experts believe the virus was first introduced into the social network in July 2015 and the number of infected users continue to rise unabated.
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