Facebook, a leading social networking site, is top of the news and the buzz of Wallstreet but is under new allegations for sharing confidential information, online demographics, with strangers and friends. Will this sharing of online demographics expose Facebook users to online scammers?
The computer-security firm Sophos created a fake online persona named Freddi Staur (an anagram for ID fraudster) to test if Facebook users are in jeopardy of sharing their personal data. Sophos found that 41% of the 200 people randomly contacted by Freddi -- whose profile photo is a plastic frog -- gave up their online demographics including birthdate, e-mail address, phone number and hometown.
Ron O'Brien, a senior security analyst at Sophos, says that once a fraudster has that, they can craft a sophisticated phishing attack or malware against specific victims. These findings were released this morning.
Facebook users unwittingly are opening themselves to ID thieves because they are not editing online demographics settings or their profiles, which are pre-set for everyone to see, O'Brien says He goes on to say that this is in no way an indictment of Facebook, which is an intuitive, secure site but the problem is not with the technology, but with the people whouse it. Facebook does put the responsibility on its users to set their privacy settings and determine the amount of online demographics they are willing to share.
The fierce growth of Facebook, with over 35 million active members, could become a breading ground for scammers. Facebook recently opened up its platform to anyone last September. It is recommended that you use caution when sharing online demographics on any social networking site. Chris Kelly, chief privacy officer at Facebook, points out that Sophos's survey recognizes privacy features of Facebook, which are spotlighted in the upper right-hand corner of the user profile.
Article reference, USA Today Jon Swartz
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