Recently we’ve seen a fair amount of scrutiny of Facebook, due to the social-networking site’s potential for identity theft and security breaches. A few recent security glitches haven’t helped aka ‘Source Code Leakage’. Now, IT security firm Sophos has released the results of its Facebook ID Probe, a test to see just how many users of the site are willing to divulge highly personal information to potential identity thieves. The results show that Facebook members might not be taking their privacy seriously enough.
Sophos created a fake Facebook profile, under the name ‘Freddi Staur’ (’ID Fraudster’ with the letters rearranged), and randomly requested 200 members to be friends with ‘Freddi.’
Sophos Facebook ID Probe findings:
- 87 of the 200 Facebook users contacted responded to Freddi, with 82 leaking personal information (41% of those approached)
- 72% of respondents divulged one or more email address
- 84% of respondents listed their full date of birth
- 87% of respondents provided details about their education or workplace
- 78% of respondents listed their current address or location
- 23% of respondents listed their current phone number
- 26% of respondents provided their instant messaging screenname
In the majority of cases, Freddi was able to gain access to respondents’ photos of family and friends, information about likes/dislikes, hobbies, employer details and other personal facts. In addition, many users also disclosed the names of their spouses or partners, several included their complete résumés, while one user even divulged his mother’s maiden name - information often requested by websites in order to retrieve account details.
Thanks CNET, Read the full article there.
-Kyle