As more information and discussion has come in on this, it now merits an update in its own right. It seems that there is at least one other unnamed app around as well as the Boxes issue, and while I've no reason to assume that it's malicious, I'd hardly advise that you rush into installing an application when the developer hasn't got around to giving it a name yet, or has abandoned it.
It seems to me, though, that some of the discussion has lost sight of the main point of the original post.
To reiterate a point I made in responding to a previous comment:
Unnamed app is obviously a generic label: it’s presumably not synonymous with Boxes, and may or may not refer to it. I haven’t seen either label on my own profile (I’m a relative recent FB user), but I doubt if this is down to a single malicious app. The first point is, though, that while Unnamed App may in some instances refer to something malicious, that doesn’t mean that “Unnamed app is a virus”. The second and more important point is that Googling for Unnamed App undoubtedly -will- turn up some malicious sites, and that’s something I -can- confirm from my own tests.
The hoax -- scam is probably a better word, since this is nearer to standard malware dissemination than the chain letter nuisance, grim though a chain letter mailstorm can be -- is now known to be circulating widely in Danish and Finnish as well as in English (another tip of the hat to Peter Kruse). It is, I suppose, quite probable that it's circulating in other languages, too, but I haven't come across them. I've also come across another report of an app evidently abandoned by its developer flagged as "unnamed app" (I can't tell whether it's the same app as reported by Julie S in a comment on my previous blog.)
The Facebook security page simply describes the issue thus:
Some people have posted about the appearance of an application listed as "Unnamed App" in their Application Settings. This was a bug, which we have now fixed. It did not damage any accounts. Be wary of any sites that claim to be able to fix this, as they might contain malicious software.
Short, to the point, but won't help everyone...
Pete responded to the earlier post by saying that:
having removed the un named app.. i now find that I cannot access my apps from my iphone or any other phone i try.. and this is the case for a lot of people who did the same. A solution would be greatly appreciated.
Unfortunately, I don't know the answer to that one for sure, not having time to spend trying to replicate the problem. However, a comment by Geekdrop suggests a post that may help. See http://geekdrop.com/content/facebook-spybot-how-to-remove, but bear in mind that I'm not in a position to test this myself at the moment.
David Harley BA CISSP FBCS CITP
Director of Malware Intelligence
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