Security news14 August 2007
Sophos podcast explores identity theft on Facebook Graham Cluley explains how people aren't taking privacy seriously online
Graham Cluley says people are sharing too much personal information on Facebook.
Sophos, a world leader in IT security and control, today announced that it has published a new podcast discussing how people are not properly securing their personal and private information on the Facebook social networking website.
Today, Sophos experts published research revealing that 41% of Facebook users were happy to reveal all to potential identity thieves. In the podcast, Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos, is interviewed by Carole Theriault about how innocent users were duped into divulging personal information - such as email address, date of birth and phone number - to a small plastic frog.
"It's alarming to hear about some of the information people were prepared to share with a complete stranger online, when they are sent a friend request on Facebook out of the blue. Facebook's privacy features actually go far beyond those of many competing social networking sites, but users are simply not choosing their privacy options carefully and have not learnt how to behave safely online," said Carole Theriault, host of the Sophos podcast. "All the security in the world is next to useless if you accept a friend request from a small plastic frog. This podcast highlights the information that can be stolen from Facebook users who haven't properly secured their identity online, and how people can better defend themselves from identity theft."
- Download the podcast on Facebook and identity theft now
- Read more about the privacy and productivity challenges associated with Facebook, and how to configure Facebook to better protect your online identity
Simply click on the arrow above to stream the podcast through your browser. Alternatively you can download it to your MP3 player.
Freddi Staur, a plastic green frog, was able to access personal information about people on Facebook.
All Sophos podcasts are available for download at www.sophos.com/podcasts. Previous podcasts have covered topics such as image spam, phishing, Microsoft Windows Vista, zero-day threats, managed appliances, corporate security policies, network access control, web threats, and rootkits.
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About Sophos
More than 100 million users in 150 countries rely on Sophos as the best protection against complex threats and data loss. Sophos is committed to providing security and data protection solutions that are simple to manage, deploy and use and that deliver the industry's lowest total cost of ownership. Sophos offers award-winning encryption, endpoint security, web, email, and network access control solutions backed by SophosLabs - a global network of threat intelligence centers. With more than two decades of experience, Sophos is regarded as a leader in security and data protection by top analyst firms and has received many industry awards.
Sophos is headquartered in Boston, US and Oxford, UK. More information is available at www.sophos.com.
See also:
- Sophos Facebook ID probe shows 41 percent of users happy to reveal all to potential identity thieves
- Facebook members bare all on networks, Sophos warns of new privacy concerns
- Facebook - the privacy and productivity challenge
- Best practice tips for privacy settings on Facebook
- 50% of employees blocked from accessing Facebook at work, Sophos survey reveals
- Listen to Sophos podcasts
