600,000 Profiles victim to identity theft? Is your profile safe? By: Victor Krull
•Posted on October 28 2011
Most user accounts are being compromised by phishing attacks, with users believing a message to be from a friend when it's really another compromised account. So, one by one, they all fall like Viagra-spamming dominoes."
Facebook's catching some heat today following the revelation that it tried to downplay how many user accounts are constantly being hacked and hijacked. The statistic “only 0.06%” looks trivial -- until you consider that’s every day, and Facebook has one billion accounts. Saying “only 600,000 logins are compromised daily” is like saying you only have a small problem with the clap since it only covers a small part of your body.
Most user accounts are being compromised by phishing attacks, with users believing a message to be from a friend when it’s really another compromised account. So, one by one, they all fall like Viagra-spamming dominoes. Sure, this is mostly user error, but if Facebook can use your account for marketing info, it should be able to find links to malicious web pages or other compromised accounts.
In the meantime, keep your guard up to prevent becoming one of the spamming zombies. Never click one of those links in an email or click a link in a message that says “I have this totally embarrassing picture of you, nameless friend!” It might sound obvious, but we all know plenty of people who’ve been spamming us about free new iPads, and that's how it’s started. Lastly, do the smart thing and be safe: Wear a condom when using Facebook.
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