That New "Friendster" Website Could Be Used for Phishing, Authorities Say 

(SPOT.ph) Don't let nostalgia let you give away sensitive data. A website that some internet users thought coule be a revived Friendster could possibly be used for phishing, authorities said.

While the purported Friendster website looks real, the Philippine National Computer Emergency Response Team's found a number of red flags, said the Department of Information and Communications Technology. Friendster was shut at the turn of the 2010s as the OG social network that was famous for friend testimonials was eclipsed by Facebook and Twitter.

The DICT asaid that the website was using WordPress, which is unusual for a social network. So far, more than 7,500 who signed up for Friendster 2.0, according to its website.

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Friendster 2.0 is 'phish'-y

The Friendster page on Facebook, where it regularly posted updates about the social networking site turned gaming community, made no announcement about its revival. Its last post was in June 2015, days before it was scheduled to "pause services" on June 15, 2015.

The current IP address that hosts Friendster 2.0's website had been flagged previously for phishing, brute force, and distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack where it floods online services with traffic from multiple sources to make it inaccessible to other users, CERT-PH said.

It also does not have an "About Us" page which could tell who developed the website. CERT-PH also flaged its use of WordPress as it main service, which is not used for social networking platforms.

To avoid being victimized by potential phishing sites, follow these tips from CERT-PH:

• Do not click suspicious links to avoid future potential threats
• Do not register to this website because your data may be compromised
• In addition, providing and capacitating employees with cybersecurity knowledge and information to minimize threats