• ZDNet, Tuesday, September 6, 2011 11:52 AM

About three out of every 20 videos on Facebook are "fake," according to new findings from security software maker Symantec. Using a sample of 3.5 million posts with videos on August 2, Symantec found that up to 15% of unique posts were identified as "likejacking attacks." A play on the term "clickjacking," likejacking involves asking a victim to click something while a different action is taken behind the scenes.

"Likejacking specifically refers to a victim clicking on something only to have some piece of content Liked, without their knowledge, in the background," ZDNet explains. "This typically occurs with a fake video player window overlayed [sic] with a hidden iframe; actually clicking on it anywhere submits a Like, promoting the scam in question to your Facebook friends." At risk, ZDNet suggests, is Facebook's ability to challenge YouTube as the Web's dominant video hub.

"Of course this number is skewed because most posts on Facebook aren't videos," ZDNet writes regarding the 15% figure, "but it still gives a general idea of what Palo Alto needs to do in order to compete with YouTube."

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