IT security and control firm Sophos is warning social networking users of the dangers of allowing strangers to gain access to their online profiles, following new research into the risks of identity and information theft occurring through global phenomenon Facebook.
Compiled from a random snapshot of Facebook users, Sophos's research shows that 41% of users, more than two in five, will divulge personal information - such as e-mail address, date of birth and phone number - to a complete stranger, greatly increasing their susceptibility to ID theft.
To coincide with the research, Sophos has also published a best-practice user guide for behaving securely on Facebook, which reportedly signs up 100 000 new users every day.
The Sophos Facebook ID Probe involved creating a fabricated Facebook profile before sending out friend requests* to individuals chosen at random from across the globe. To conduct the experiment, Sophos set up a profile page for 'Freddi Staur' (an anagram of 'ID Fraudster'), a small green plastic frog who divulged minimal personal information about himself.
Sophos then sent out 200 friend requests to observe how many people would respond, and how much personal information could be gleaned from the respondents.
"Freddi encouraged 82 users to hand over their personal details on a plate," says Brett Myroff, CEO of master Sophos distributor, NetXactics. "While accepting friend requests is unlikely to result directly in theft, it is an enabler, giving cyber criminals many of the building blocks they need to spoof identities, to gain access to online user accounts, or potentially, to infiltrate their employers' computer networks."
The full results of the Sophos Facebook ID Probe are as follows:
* Eighty-seven of the 200 Facebook users contacted responded to Freddi, with 82 leaking personal information (41% of those approached)
* Seventy-two percent of respondents divulged one or more e-mail addresses
* Eighty-four percent of respondents listed their full date of birth
* Eighty-seven percent of respondents provided details about their education or workplace
* Seventy-eight percent of respondents listed their current address or location
* Twenty-three percent of respondents listed their current phone number
* Twenty-six percent of respondents provided their instant messaging screen name
In the majority of cases, Freddi was able to gain access to respondents' photos of family and friends, information about likes/dislikes, hobbies, employer details and other personal facts.
In addition, many users also disclosed the names of their spouses or partners, several included their complete r'esum'es, while one user even divulged his mother's maiden name - information often requested by Web sites in order to retrieve account details.
What is concerning is how easy it was for Freddi to go about his business, obtaining enough information to create phishing e-mails or malware specifically targeted at individual users or businesses, to guess users' passwords, impersonate them or even stalk them, explains Myroff.
While most people wouldn't give out their details to a stranger in the street, or respond to a spam e-mail, several of the users Freddi contacted went so far as to make him one of their "top friends".
"People should understand that despite occurring within Facebook, this type of communication is still unsolicited and users should employ the same basic precautions - such as not responding in any way - to prevent exposure to wrongdoers," Myroff says.
As well as the successful friend requests, a number of users unwittingly enabled Freddi to gain access to their profile information simply by sending response messages such as "Who are you?" and "Do I know you?" back to his Facebook inbox. Sophos experts note that users' profiles can be protected from such exposure by adjusting the privacy controls within their Facebook account settings.
While Facebook's privacy features go far beyond those of many competing social networking sites, it is ultimately about the human factor - carelessness and being preoccupied with having more Facebook friends than their peers could have a serious impact on business security, if accessed in the workplace, Myroff adds.
Some businesses may already be considering blocking Facebook for productivity reasons but, equally, other companies will see business benefits in this type of interaction, hence it's important that the site is used sensibly and securely.
In addition to these findings, Sophos poked** a further 100 random Facebook users to see if this form of communication would elicit the same response and encourage people to let Freddi access their details. However, just eight people responded, with only five revealing personal information.
"Curiously, while so many users were perfectly willing to make friends with Freddi - despite knowing nothing about him - it appears that few wanted to engage in casual poking, suggesting that, true to the site's ethos, Facebook users are primarily interested in commitment and friendship," Myroff says. An image of Freddi Staur can be found at: http://www.sophos.com/images/misc/freddi_frog.jpg
Sophos's user guide for behaving securely on Facebook is available at: http://www.sophos.com/facebook
To listen to the latest Sophos podcast, which discusses the potential risks posed by social networking Web sites, please visit: http://www.sophos.com/podcasts
*Facebook users can either accept or reject incoming friend requests. If accepted, they allow the sender to gain access to their Facebook profile. Users can also choose whether to allow the sender to see all of their details, or restrict them to viewing a limited section of their profile.
**'Poking' is a way for Facebook users to interact with one another. According to the Facebook Web site, it is a feature designed "without any specific purpose". When a user is poked an icon appears on their Facebook homepage, with the option to 'remove poke' or 'poke back'.
By choosing to poke back, the user allows the initial sender to view their profile information for the next seven days. Further information can be found at: www.facebook.com/help.php?page=20.
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NetXactics is a South African-based company, focused on the provision of security solutions. It is the Master Distributor for UK-based Sophos, one of the leaders in the provision of anti-virus and anti-spam software for the corporate environment. For more information, visit NetXactics at www.netxactics.co.za.
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