Last time around we heard of a worm spreading on Facebook it was called Koobface and it was causing a lot of problems for users. This time around it’s called Boface.BJ but it has already affected millions of users and that’s only expected to grow in the coming months. This morning PandaLabs malware analysis and detection laboratory released a report stating that it just discovered a new variant of the Boface.BJ worm which has already affected an estimated two million users, half of which are in the United States.

Right now the growth appears to be negative (as the chart below depicts) but it is projected to spread to millions of users in the coming month, growing over 100 percent per quarter. It has not been stated whether or not the software is actually damaging computers or if it was simply created for the purpose of maximizing the number of infected users.

The way users become infected is pretty standard. A user will receive a message (like the one pictured below) from a friend which encourages them to click on a link. Once clicked, they will end up at a site called “YuoTube” (a common misspelling for “YouTube”) which will then prompt them to download a video player.

Four hours after the software is downloaded, the user’s Facebook account will be hijacked and a message will be blasted out to all their friends. It’s the same model that practically all of the spammers and hackers are currently using on Facebook. What’s interesting is that few of the viruses so far have actually been damaging for users’ computers.

While the worm appears to be under control for the time being, these worms tend to grow overtime and the developers behind them tend to make minor adjustments each time that will assist in their viral growth. The advice from PandaLabs is to avoid clicking suspicious links and keep an eye open for unfamiliar websites. In other words: don’t get tricked!