Facebook privacy and security continued to receive prominent media attention this week. One of the biggest stories revolved around Firesheep, a Firefox extension developed by Eric Butler. Firesheep was released to showcase the massive vulnerabilities of most social networking sites, including Facebook and Twitter. Butler is on record as stating the following, “As soon as anyone on the network visits an insecure website known to Firesheep, their name and photo will be displayed in the window. All you have to do is double click on their name and open sesame, you will be able to log into that user’s site with their credentials”. The extension was downloaded over 1000 times within an hour of its release. Needless to say, now more than ever, it is imperative that you take precautions when logging in to any sites over an unsecured, wifi network.
Other stories we followed this week relating to privacy and safety issues of social networking sites are listed below:
Scams of the Week
“Check Who has Deleted You” Facebook Scam
“You will never crack your knuckles again after seeing this!” Facebook Scam
Other notable Facebook stories we followed: