BBC Watchdog steals Facebook identities, and Sophos’s idea!

Last night, BBC TV in the UK broadcast an investigation into Facebook security on their flagship consumer affairs program, Watchdog.  Their findings have been reported in news stories worldwide.

BBC investigators set up a fake Facebook id called “Amba Friend”, contacted 100 people at random with friend requests, and reported how many accepted the invitation from a total stranger. Sure enough, plenty of people accepted the invitation and information such as home addresses and dates of birth were available for a potential identity thief to spirit away.

Sound familiar?  Well,…

Read more in my article on the Naked Security website.

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Graham Cluley •   @gcluley

Graham Cluley is a veteran of the anti-virus industry having worked for a number of security companies since the early 1990s when he wrote the first ever version of Dr Solomon's Anti-Virus Toolkit for Windows. Now an independent security analyst, he regularly makes media appearances and is an international public speaker on the topic of computer security, hackers, and online privacy. Follow him on Twitter at @gcluley, on Mastodon at @[email protected], or drop him an email.