facebook

To date, Facebook is perhaps the most successful and widespread social networking site. It has transcended age and race, and practically everyone I know has an account. It has so much to offer, hence the amount of time that the average person spends on Facebook has skyrocketed in the past months. Even businesses and employers use Facebook to make their presence felt online!

But in spite of the allure and usefulness of Facebook, it does have some security issues. All the information that one enters can be accessed by the site AND its third party partners. With each application a user “allows,” his information is accessed, probably even shared with others. Unless a user changes the default privacy settings, practically anyone can access his information. This is something that not everyone really thinks about.

But the Canadian government found these issues important. In fact, the pressured Facebook to create some changes with regard to security. Thanks to them, several tweaks have been enacted. PCWorld featured this move and outlined the fixes.

One, Facebook had to fix the way applications access users data:

Apps will have to tell the user what information it wants and get express consent from the user beforehand. Information will be split into categories, which the user can check off before installing. Developers will also have to explain how that personal data will be used.

Two, what happens to a user’s information if he deactivates his account?

Users will be given an option to either deactivate or delete their accounts. Upon deactivation, they’ll be notified of the option to delete, and can elect to do so should they want all their data gone for good.

Three, what will happen to your account if you die?

Facebook will explain in its privacy policy what happens to an account after its owner passes away.

My thoughts – one and two are quite valid. Three, I am not so sure. You’ll be dead, why would you care? In any case, I wonder if Facebook will apply these fixes to the whole system or just for their Canadian users?

Facebook and other popular social networking sites today have another thing to consider and this is concerned with the security risks that they may become susceptible with. Bear in mind, one thing that hackers and malicious-minded geeks want to do is to test the mettle of successful sites and Facebook happens to be one of them today.

Such a task is something that has to be addressed by successful developing companies such as Facebook. With a growing network and rising popularity, hackers and scammers pry on their success to be popular as well. But knowing how much developers have invested in these sites, you can almost be assured that they have thought of that. But considering the level of security is another thing since it only takes one minor flaw to make life a living hell for online and social networking sites.

We have seen sites in the past encounter such problems. While it would be best to avoid waiting to be another victim, Facebook and other social networking sites would do well to make sure they don’t limit their investment in this aspect. After earning millions from successful sponsorships and adsense earnings, the least they can do is put a portion of these earnings into site security.

Social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn are fast emerging as some of the most fertile grounds for malicious software, identity thieves and online mischief-makers. And while some of the talks given here at Black Hat, one of the larger hacker conferences in the country, would probably make most people want to avoid the sites altogether, it turns out that staying off these networks may not be the safest option, either.

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