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Facebook Hijacking Points To Social-Networking Holes By Carl Weinschenk November 10, 2009 2:19PM The nontechnical hijacking of nearly 300 unadministered Facebook groups illustrates the security issues facing social-networking sites. Dave Amsler of Foreground Security said social-networking sites like Facebook have major security issues. Facebook said the takeover of the groups was not a hijacking and no confidential information was exposed.   Related Topics Facebook Hijacking Security Social Networking Latest News Endeavour Inspected for Damage Autism Risk for Kids of Older Mothers Go Online and You Can Save the Planet In Haiti, Relief Gaps Are Spreading U.S. To Form Climate-Change Agency The takeover of administration rights to a large number of Facebook groups by an organization that calls itself Control Your Info is just one example of the many security issues facing social-networking sites in general and Facebook in particular, according to experts. Indeed, this nontechnical exploit can be called a benign example of what is at risk if better controls aren't put in place. Control Your Info hijacked almost 300 groups by simply taking over unadministered groups. Dave Amsler, the cofounder and CIO of Foreground Security, said the illegitimate administrators have access to profile information, e-mail addresses and other data that members have provided. He pointed out that credit-card numbers aren't involved. Hijacker Message Control Your Info posted this message at those groups: "Hello, we hereby announce that we have officially hijacked your Facebook group. "This means we control a certain part of the information about you on Facebook. If we wanted we could make you appear in a bad way which could damage your image severly [sic]." The group didn't respond to a request for an interview sent to the e-mail address at its web site. Facebook's press-relations department e-mailed a statement which read in part that "there has been no hacking and there is no confidential information at risk. The groups in question have been abandoned by their previous owners, which means any group member has the option to make themselves an administrator in order to continue communication to the group. Group administrators have no access to private user information and group members can leave a group at any time." Bigger Problems The situation is evidence of significant vulnerabilities in Facebook, Amsler said. "The social-networking sites -- Facebook being the most important -- have major security issues," he added. "No one is bothering to secure anything." He said the company seemed unconcerned when contacted. "We've reported major findings to them and their response is, 'Yeah, we know about it. There is not a whole lot we can do about it.'" Amsler added that he agrees with the stated aims of Control Your Info -- to call attention to what critics say is an insecure Facebook environment -- but thinks the group acted unethically in hijacking groups. Still, he believes that Facebook probably will make the relatively easy, nontechnical changes necessary to prevent the hijackings. Facebook defended its practices. "Security is a top priority for Facebook, and we devote significant resources to helping our users protect their accounts and information," according to a spokesperson. "Any assertion to the contrary is false. We think this focus on security is a major reason Facebook was recently named one of the top 10 most trusted companies in an independent survey conducted by TRUSTe and the Ponemon Institute." (continued...) 1  |  2  |  Next Page >   Tell Us What You Think Your Comment: Also Visit: iPad Info Center Billions of Bytes Mobile Device Now Apple Info Center TopTechWire.com Advertisement  Enterprise I.T. 1.   Google May Make Gmail More Social 2.   IBM Power7 Server Takes on Big Load 3.   IBM Opens Cloud-Focused Data Center 4.   Google Apps Controls Mobile Devices 5.   Newly Independent AOL Posts Profit Google Attack Highlights Black Market Paying for bug info is hotly debated. Average Rating: Zuckerberg's Comments Blasted Called self-serving and irrelevant. Average Rating: Google May Make Gmail More Social Not a Facebook or Twitter killer. Average Rating:

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