Thursday, August 12, 2010

New Facebook Bug Invades Your Privacy...Again

Does the title of my post sound like a repeat?  New bug, repeat problem - privacy issues.

The Facebook community learned this week that a new bug at the login point to Facebook will reveal names and photos -- even if you have locked your privacy settings down tightly.

Here is how it works:
1.  Someone logs into Facebook using your email address & they guess the wrong password
2.  Facebook displays a screen that tells them to try the password again and displays the picture you have on file and the name you have put on your profile

This is a treasure trove of information that cybercreeps and cybercriminals can use.

The bug is now fixed but this is a friendly reminder to do the following:
1.  Go to your Facebook account and choose "Preview My Profile".  What does it say about you?  Does it say anything you would NOT want a cybercreep to read?

An example might include:  You may not want to list your full birthdate, including year

2.  Check your privacy settings to make sure they are set to the level you feel most comfortable with.
You have a lot of settings to choose from and can lock down information to just "friends", or "friends of friends" or you can go wide open

3.  Review any pictures you have posted - do they identify you in a way the compromises you to fraudsters?  Are you giving too much identifiable information about your children and their schedules?  Are you providing too much information that could be used for social engineering?

4.  Go to your favorite search engine and type in "your name, Facebook" to double check.  Do the same for your loved ones.

You can stay on top of the latest security and privacy issues by tracking Facebook's security page and the page updated by Sophos.

1.  Security Page on Facebook

2.  Sophos Security Suggestions for Facebook

As always, I'm open to questions & suggestions.

2 comments:

  1. It's much easier to just deactivate or delete your Facebook account. No more FB privacy issues... no more worries.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for your comment. Getting rid of your Facebook account can be one option.

    ReplyDelete