Free open WiFi suspected in Facebook hack of Missouri state representatives

Graham Cluley
Graham Cluley
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If you’re using free WiFi hotspots to connect to websites like Facebook, you had best be careful.

A number of politicians in Missouri appear to have learnt that lesson the hard way – with five people reporting that they have had their Facebook accounts hacked since the beginning of the year.

And suspicious minds are leaning towards the theory that hackers took advantage of a free, open wireless network to sidejack state representatives’ Facebook accounts and post mischievous messages such as

“I love lobbyist! All the free food and stuff you get. This job is awesome!”

Victims who had their Facebook accounts hacked in January included Democrat Stacey Newman and Republicans Donna Lichtenegger and Dave Schatz. Lichtenegger says that on the day a hacker posted an unauthorised message from her account, she had used the House’s free public WiFi.

She later posted an apology on Facebook about the message which claimed she loved free gifts from…

Read more in my article on the Naked Security website.

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Graham Cluley is a veteran of the cybersecurity 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 analyst, he regularly makes media appearances and is an international public speaker on the topic of cybersecurity, hackers, and online privacy. Follow him on Twitter, Mastodon, Bluesky, or drop him an email.

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