| Facebook identity theft brings us back to the basics |
 |
 |
 |
| Written by SecurityWatch |
| Monday, 06 April 2009 07:35 |
|
Its back to the basics for one of the most internet savvy people on facebook. Marc Freedman who is #6 on linkedin.com's most connected people list, had his facebook identity stolen for a smal but crucial period. The perpetrator, after stealing Marc's password, started communicating with his contacts in chat. The contacts were made to believe that Marc was in London where he had been robbed of his money and travel documents and needed monetary help. The whole scam succeeded as the crook was able to make 4 of his contacts send the money to an account in the UK, which infact, belonged to the hacker/social-engineer.
In an interview given to Stan Relihan (www.expertsearch.com.au), Marc talked about how such attacks could be prevented and not surprisingly the steps to prevent such a theft are most basic. Listen to the complete interview here: The tips discussed in the interview to avoid such an incident are: 1 - Keep longer passwords with mixed upper and lower case characters, digits and other characters. 2 - Keep contacts offline, this way they are at a central location, easy to manage and if hell breaks loose they are easy to contact and alert. 3 - Keep seperate email accounts for different professional and personal accounts. 4 - Always make sure the browser you are using is up to date. 5 - Make sure your Windows is up to date and patched. 6 - You have an up to date version of a good anitivirus program. 7 - Use false information while signing up on open social networks.... because you have the right to. 8 - Always be suspicious when interacting with someone online ... because you have the right to.
After all this what really shocked Marc (and a lot of us) was that it took Facebook two whole days to actually do something about this hacked account. While the perpetrator was at it, contacting a large number of Marc's contacts and making them believe what ever he wanted them to believe. Such active was the attack that as soon as one of Marc's contacts wrote on his wall telling that the account had been hacked, the message would be deleted within a minute. Such delays in service are not totally un heard of. With the intention to bring in new functionality to their product companies are focused on rapid development leaving out holes, customer service is there but clearly not a priority. The only one REALLY concerned about your security is you. Stay paranoid ... and stay safe. SecurityWatch_at_Wbitt.com
Links: http://connecions.thepodcastnetwork.com www.tinyurl.com/ConnectionsNews/MarcFreedman2 |
| Last Updated on Friday, 10 April 2009 07:28 |
