Facebook offers free McAfee security

 

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By Stuart Turton

Posted on 13 Jan 2010 at 09:38

Facebook has partnered with McAfee to offer six months of free coverage to the site's 350 million users.

After the trial period has expired users will then be offered a discounted version of the package, which could work out well for the security company's subscriptions department. However, Facebook claims it will not benefit financially from the deal.

"Facebook is applying all financial incentives from this partnership to the benefit of its users and will not be taking a share of any revenue from user subscriptions," the company says on its blog.

Alongside, the free suite, the social-networking site has also launched a McAfee-designed tool to scan and clean the computer of users whose accounts are compromised by malware.

This tool will require that users clean their computer up, before it allows them to log back into their account.

Facebook, along with other social networking services such as Twitter and MySpace, are among the most popular targets for hackers and cybercriminals. Criminals prey upon a false sense of security among their users who believe that these "walled gardens" are immune from attack.