Facebook security breach exposes private photos
Thought your ‘certain friends-only’ photos were safe from strangers on Facebook? You thought wrong. A security hole temporarily allowed anyone full access to even those pictures you thought were private – in other words, you might as well have posted up those embarrassing drunken photos on Flickr.
This revelation couldn’t have come at a more embarassing time; the popular social networking site had just unveiled new privacy controls. Associated Press was tipped off by computer technician Byron Ng from Vancouver, Canada. Ng had been snooping around for weaknesses after Facebook’s announcements of said privacy controls.
Ng found those controls didn’t prevent him from viewing the most recent pictures posted by Facebook users, even if those pictures were tagged for a restricted audience.
Facebook spokeswoman Brandee Barker claimed the bug was fixed within an hour from the Monday afternoon tip-off.
“We take privacy very seriously and continue to make enhancements to the site,” she said.
Ng had managed to dig up private pictures of Paris Hilton and her brother, Barron Nicholas. Using Ng’s template, an AP reporter was even able to click through Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg’s own November 2005 personal album.
Rupert Murdoch could probably relate to Zuckerberg’s situation. His own News Corp.’s MySpace.com, suffered a similar security breach earlier this year.
The moral of the story is simple – if you have pictures you don’t want certain people to see, you’ve no business putting them online. Invite your friends over to have a look at your drunken antics on digital or even better, don’t keep them around in the first place.
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