Facebook and Sophos, a major IT security and data protection company, have announced a partnership aimed at helping protect users from links that lead to malware or malicious sites.

Facebook will use the website reputation service provided by SophosLabs, Sophos’s global network of research centers, along with their own security measures, to help assess whether a largely distributed link is malicious.

When Facebook users click a link, Facbeook consults its database of malicious URLs to check the status of the link. Starting today, SophosLabs will be feeding malicious URL intelligence into this database.

Facebook will inform Facebook users if the link they clicked on is malicious, and users will be sent to a page that offers the choice to continue at their own risk, return to the previous screen, or obtain more information on why the link was flagged as suspicious.

Mac users will also be given the option to download the free Sophos Anti-Virus for Mac Home Edition from the Sophos Facebook Page as part of the Facebook AV Marketplace.

“We are pleased to begin partnering with Sophos to better protect our users both on and off of Facebook,” said Joe Sullivan, chief of security, Facebook.

“We believe incorporating Sophos's industry-leading computer security intelligence, and expertise, will help us provide even more security to those using Facebook.'

SophosLabs is a global network of highly skilled and thoroughly trained analysts renowned for protecting businesses from known and emerging threats, rapidly and immediately.

SophosLabs’s expertise covers every area of network security—viruses, spyware, adware, intrusion, spam and malicious web pages. Innovative technologies such as Behavioral Genotype Protection and rapid signature updates are combined to stop new and unknown malware.

“For many hundreds of millions of people, Facebook has become the default forum for sharing and consuming opinions, news and personal content. Because content is typically posted by a trusted source – a friend – many users incorrectly assume links are safe. Scammers often take advantage of the trust relationship to fool users into clicking malicious links,” said Mark Harris, vice president, SophosLabs.

“Our partnership with Facebook will educate users to make more informed decisions regarding what they click on and will help reduce the spread of malicious links.” – TradeArabia News Service