information privacy

FACEBOOK URGED TO TIGHTEN SECURITY STATUS OF USERS
MANILA, Philippines -- IT security firm Sophos has urged Facebook to address more privacy concerns that were discovered, including the unwitting exposure of personal details of subscribers to possible identity thieves upon joining the network.
Taking a random snapshot of 200 users in the London Facebook Network alone, Sophos discovered that about 75 percent of the users had their profiles viewed by any other member regardless of whether they agreed to be friends.
The London network is one of the single largest geographic networks on the site with more than 1.2 million members.
The company said Facebook users in other geographic regions are similarly exposing personal information to complete strangers.
Apart from personal details, about 25 percent of profiles checked by Sophos included information relating to work.
"[These are] details that could potentially be used by cybercriminals in their attempts to commit corporate ID fraud or to infiltrate company networks," the antivirus firm said.
Facebook is a social networking service that is open to anyone upon registration. While Facebook allows users to set up privacy settings to ensure that only friends can their information, joining a network automatically opens users' profiles to other members of the network, Sophos said.
"I was flabbergasted when I joined a network on Facebook using a profile which I thought was secure only to find Facebook had changed a number of settings and was opening me up to millions of strangers. Who was to say that cybercriminals weren't in that network too? Is it right that Facebook works this way?" said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos.
Sophos said details that were unwittingly made public were users' date of birth, phone number, among others.
"The Facebook network issue almost amounts to identity-on-demand for cybercriminals who are fully capable of taking advantage of unwitting Facebook fans. It's crucial that users take a few minutes to look at their privacy settings before getting caught up in the undisputed fun of Facebook," Cluley said.
Sophos has published a research showing that 41 percent of Facebook users were prepared to divulge personal information to a complete stranger, which turned out to be a small plastic frog called Freddi Staur, which was an anagram of “ID Fraudster.”