Facebook hires the service of a known web security firm in an effort to combat the growing number of malware cases last year.

Users will get a warning whenever they see any  suspicious links that want them off the social site.   Facebook believe that such site harbor malwares intended for a person’s computer.  The warning was a result from a partnership with Websense.

Another web security firm, Symantec stated in its annual report in April that the malevolent links accounted for two-thirds of all abbreviated links on social networks in 2010, and that approximately nine in 10 of them got clicked more than once.

Though Facebook has developed exponentially, it has also faced the increasing of oporutnity scams, targeting the site’s 800 million users. Attacks varies from obtaining the passwords of users to extorting money from people though the use of plausible-sounding email addresses by way of information collected from their profile pages.

The report claims that one of the biggest threats on the social network is the shortened link as they trick the users to click on the link.  Once click, the virus enters the computer, and from then on, hackers can see and control the files of the user.  Websense says a program can prevent that from happening by warning the users from possible threat of opening shortened links.

Facebook’s product manager, Dan Rubinstein says Facebook cares about the protection of users from possible malicious content online.  They got excited about the partnership with Websense as the latter company is capable of providing industry leading tools in helping the users protect themselves.

According to the report of the security firm Sophos reported in July, Facebook regarded as the “biggest risk” online among users, with 81% of survey respondents, who voted for the website, which is up from 60% in 2010. Twitter and Myspace collected 8% of the votes in the same study.

Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos, informed the Guardian about the partnership, they said that the partnership does not have any “significant change of direction” by Facebook, and said his firm sees “a lot of malevolent activity on the social giant.

In May, facebook has partnered with the online security firm Web of Trust.

Chief executive Vesa Perala says their company works with combined data from trusted sources that got real experience in fighting cyber crimes.

Senior manager of security research at Websense, Carl Leonard description of Web of Trust as a different system in real-time Websense technology.