Facebook fiasco: Two lakh accounts hacked in 24 hrs

Facebook fiasco: Two lakh accounts hacked in 24 hrs

Users of the popular social networking site woke up to a harsh reality yesterday when they found their pictures morphed, put on pornographic sites and feeds sent to friends; experts fear this may bring about site's downfall

Over two lakh city Facebook users woke up to a social media embarrassment yesterday morning as their accounts had been hacked and weblinks to their morphed pornographic pictures sent as feeds to friends and family.

According to global media reports, more than 60 lakh Facebook accounts were hacked since Sunday night. Social networking analysts have claimed that officially more than 2 lakh Bangalore Facebook accounts were hacked.

The cyber crime department has received many calls and complaints regarding the mass hacking. They have started preliminary investigations in a few cases too.

All Porn and gore

A resident of Koramangala logged on to her Facebook account yesterday morning from a cyber caf ©, only to get the shock of her life. "My mother, brother and 19 friends of mine had rebuked me after reading my status message.

It had a link to a website, and on clicking I saw my face morphed and pasted onto the body of a porn star. My name and details were also available on the website. I called the police, but they directed me to the cyber crime police station," said Kamini Varma (name changed).

Kamini's last post said that she was quitting the popular social networking site after being embarrassed amongst their friends. There were around 50 other posts on Facebook that stated the users are quitting the social networking site forever after being embarrassed before friends and family.

"The website is no longer safe. My friend had posted a link to a news report claiming to have been published in a popular newspaper on my page on Sunday. Since the title said 'Party till the wee hours' I got excited and clicked on it but nothing appeared. The next day I logged on to find that everything had changed.

My female friends alleged that I had stolen photos from their account and sold it to porn sites. Others had called me a 'porn addict' and many others left abusive messages. I immediately deactivated my account," said Shivam Shah, student (name changed).

Following this huge incident, many social media experts huddled up and debated if this would lead to the eventual downfall of Facebook now.

"Orkut fell in the same fashion. As much as Orkut officials claimed that Facebook had beaten it in popularity, many reports nail the fact that consistent hacking on the social networking site for over six months (before Facebook became popular) had led to its immediate downfall and eventual social death.

Facebook seems to be headed in the same direction, unless there is some sort of immediate and strict measures taken by Facebook," said Suhas Giri, a city-based popular social media expert.

Meanwhile, Facebook put up a set of guidelines for users who had either been hacked, or heard of such incidents. The official Facebook Security blog post said, "Security and safety are at the core of Facebook.

We have entire teams dedicated to building tools that give people even more control over their account, and specifically the way they access their information. In fact, many of our most talented engineers are working exclusively on creating a secure environment on Facebook."

Analysts further asserted that in spite of such incidents, users seldom bother taking the security measures seriously, until being personally victimised.

Thousands of users like Kamini and Shivam have decided to shun the habit of talking wall-to- wall and return to the good-old practice of talking to people face-to-face.

Top 3 spam links that helped hack accounts

'Bangalore police: Party till the wee hours, 11.30 PM ban lifted'. Clicking on this link leads you to a page with a photo of a popular pub in town, with a caption questioning the user 'You really think this could happen?' After clicking on the link, the user's account is hacked and sends out a series of unstoppable torrents of XXX porn to all of the user's friends. Over 12,000 Bangaloreans reportedly fell for this spam.

'Date a stripper in Bangalore'. Clicking on this link automatically transfers all the photos from the user's account and posts them on a porn website. The link to this porn website is then set as the user's FB status message and posted on newsfeeds of all the user's friends. Over 500 Bangaloreans fell for this spam.

Popular Sandalwood actress raped and murdered Social media analysts suspect that this was a prank link created by a small group of users, following the fad of series of spam links posted through the course of the day. The link leads a user to various soft porn videos from South Indian movies, posted on www.youtube.com. Over 2,500 Bangaloreans fell for this spam.

Embarrassed users commit 'social suicide'

Over 700 Bangaloreans claim to have deleted their Facebook accounts and many have urged their friends to do the same. "I officially declared to my friends at college that I'd committed social suicide and have vowed not to ever join any social networking site," said Sandeep Jain, a Christ University student.

Another student from Jyoti Nivas College, who fell to an infamous hack claiming that a prominent Kannada film actress had been raped and murdered, claimed to be mortally scared of new media. "The same thing happened to me on Orkut three years ago.

My account got hacked and all my photos got pulled into a huge group called 'sexually active community in Bangalore'. I started getting requests to spend nights with strangers. Frustrated, I deleted my account.

People told me Facebook was safer. Now, this has happened to me once again. I'm off Facebook too now and I'm scared of the Internet altogether," said K R Rohini, a communications professional (name changed).

Facebook Fraud: Beware Malicious Friends

Con artists are lurking in the shadows of your Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and eHarmony accounts, according to the North American Securities Administrators Association, the oldest international investor protection association.

Crooks have always gravitated to so-called "affinity" frauds, which target the members of a set group such as members of a particular church, alumni association or country club. That's because victims let down their guard when they're introduced through a friend, even if that introduction is second-hand. (Think: "I was referred to you by Father Jim." Or "Susan suggested that I give you a call.")

In fact, scammers purposefully infiltrate tight-knit groups, figuring that common hobbies, lifestyles, professions or faith will help them establish a bond with their victims. Because we assume that our friends won't betray us, that bond increases the likelihood that even a reasonable, thoughtful individual will become a victim.

Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, and eHarmony have become a particular targets of affinity fraudsters because it's so easy to break into these groups, according to the investor protection group. You may be selective about the group you accept as friends and connections online, for example. But you might be tempted to accept connection requests from "friends of friends." If just a few of your legitimate friends are less selective than you are, you could get connection requests from people who know people that you went to high school or college with, for example.

You might assume this "friend" is an old acquaintance that you've simply forgotten. The formula: the faux friend will post often and regularly interact with your group of friends. The name becomes increasingly familiar. Months into your online "relationship" with this person, a big move in the stock market might cause him or her to mention that he/she is an "investment professional."

"Don't worry," he might say. "This market reversal is just temporary."

In these tumultuous times, even savvy investors are looking for good advice. If the con artist is smooth enough, he won't even approach you. You'll approach him. The next thing you know, he's commiserating with you about how rotten all the traditional investments are. Then, ever so smoothly, he moves to the pitch: "Well there is one thing you can invest in, but it's not for everybody...."

You may get ****ed into the affinity fraud vortex, thinking that you're getting this opportunity because your long-lost (and suspiciously missing from the year book) high school classmate is willing to let you in because he knows you. In fact, many victims of affinity frauds end up so certain that the con artist is legitimately helping them that they end up promoting the bogus "opportunity" to their own close friends and families.

"A con artist can take advantage of how easily people share background and personal information online by using this information to make a highly targeted pitch to friends within that social group," said David Massey, North Carolina's Deputy Securities Administrator and President of NASAA. "Just because someone has friended you online doesn't mean that person is your friend when it comes to investing.

What signs might tip you off that the investment is fraudulent?

• Lack of public information. If you're offered an investment that's not listed on a major stock exchange (anything that can't be looked up on Yahoo Finance), insist on seeing the prospectus filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. If there isn't one, walk away.

• Promises of high returns with little or no risk

• Sense of urgency. ("I can only leave this deal open for you until the end of the week"; "this opportunity won't last"; "there are a limited number of shares")

• Request for payment through e-currency web sites.

• Testimonials from "satisfied" investors

• Hard-to-verify information — i.e. "this investment is registered but it's registered with securities regulators in Bermuda, rather than the U.S."

Microsoft Buys Skype for $8.5 Billion!

Microsoft has bought Skype for $8.5 billion, in an all-cash deal. Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft, is said to be a big champion of the deal, the largest in the history of the company. Ballmer and Skype CEO Tony Bates will host a press conference to announce it officially. The deal is Microsoft's largest cash purchase in its 36-year long history.

"The combination will extend Skype's world-class brand and the reach of its networked platform, while enhancing Microsoft's existing portfolio of real-time communications products and services," according to Microsoft's press release on the deal. "With 170 million connected users and over 207 billion minutes of voice and video conversations in 2010, Skype has been a pioneer in creating rich, meaningful connections among friends, families and business colleagues globally."

Skype has been up for sale for some time, thanks to some very antsy investors. Facebook and Google were said to be earlier dance partners for Skype, and Microsoft was a late entrant and is now close to walking away with the prize. Though this is contrary because Google, with its Google Voice offering, doesn’t really need Skype.

But this is a bet worth taking for Microsoft because:

1) Skype gives Microsoft a boost in the enterprise collaboration market, thanks to Skype’s voice, video and sharing capabilities, especially when competing with Cisco and Google.

2) It would give them a must-have application/service that can help with the adoption of the future versions of Windows Mobile operating system.

3) However, the biggest reason for Microsoft to buy Skype is Windows Phone 7 (Mobile OS) and Nokia. The software giant needs a competitive offering to Google Voice and Apple’s emerging communication platform, Facetime.

Who gets what:

1) Using the $8.5 billion price as the likely sale price, eBay gets $2.55 billion for its 30-percent stake in Skype. So in the end, eBay did make money on the Skype deal.

2) Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis, the co-founders, with their 14-percent stake, take home about $1.19 billion.

3) Silver Lake, Andreessen Horowitz and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) own 56 percent of the company, and that stake is worth $4.76 billion.

4) Andreessen Horowitz had three percent of the deal and made $205 million profit on their $50 million initial investment.

Why a sell-out?

Skype had filed for an IPO, was going to do about a billion dollars in revenues, and was on its way to becoming profitable. So why sell? Silver Lake and eBay were both getting impatient and wanted to lock in their profits. The company had bet heavily on is video sharing service. The premium version of video calling and sharing was a way for Skype to increase its average revenue per user and move into the enterprise market. However, given Skype’s DNA is that of a consumer Internet company, the challenges aren’t a surprise. Some sources also believe Skype’s revenues had stalled.

So who's the biggest winner?

The biggest winner of this deal could actually be Facebook. With Microsoft, it gets the best of both worlds: It gets access to Skype assets (Microsoft is an investor in Facebook) and it gets to keep Skype away from Google.

Facebook needs Skype badly. Among other things, it needs to use Skype’s peer-to-peer network to offer video and voice services to the users of Facebook Chat. If the company had to use conventional methods and offer voice and video service to its 600 million plus customers, the cost and overhead of operating the infrastructure would be prohibitive.

Facebook can also help Skype get more customers for its SkypeOut service, and it can have folks use Facebook Credits to pay for Skype minutes. Skype and Facebook are working on a joint announcement, and you can expect it shortly.

Hacker Arrested for Swiping Facebook Photos for Porn Sites

A Facebook conman has been posting women's photos on porn sites after breaking into their accounts, in an incident that underscores the need for greater awareness of social networking security.

Timothy Noirjean, 26-years-old, was arrested in his parents' Minnesota basement today for stealing and illegally posting Facebook photos of 13 young women on porn sites.

Noirjean says he didn't know hacking into 100 Facebook accounts was a crime.

Police tracked down Noirjean after a 20-year-old woman filed a complaint saying she was instant messaging with someone she thought was a friend when her account password was suddenly changed. After managing to log in again, she discovered links to a sexually explicit website that contained three photos of her.

Noirjean explained that he accessed the woman's and others' accounts by friending them on Facebook, obtaining their e-mail addresses, and then subtly persuading them to give him answers to their security questions. Noirjean created a new password to their account with this information and stole private photos from there to post on porn sites.

Timothy Noirjean, 26-years-old, was arrested in his parents' Minnesota basement today for stealing and illegally posting Facebook photos of 13 young women on porn sites. Noirjean says he didn't know hacking into 100 Facebook accounts was a crime.

Police tracked down Noirjean after a 20-year-old woman filed a complaint saying she was instant messaging with someone she thought was a friend when her account password was suddenly changed. After managing to log in again, she discovered links to a sexually explicit website that contained three photos of her.

Noirjean explained that he accessed the woman's and others' accounts by friending them on Facebook, obtaining their e-mail addresses, and then subtly persuading them to give him answers to their security questions. Noirjean created a new password to their account with this information and stole private photos from there to post on porn sites.

Ironically, this incident follows Facebook's recent security updates designed to help users report misuse, like online bullying or inappropriate posts, on the site.

One update asks users for a code each time they log in from a new device, which would have foiled Noirjean's scam, but the security features are optional and like most people, the women hadn't opted-in.

To protect your account from being hacked, be familiar with Facebook's privacy settings and change your password often. Also don't give away answers to your security questions over instant messaging and never click on untrusted links, even if they appear to be from friends.
 

Noirjean has been charged with 13 counts of identity theft.

Google Launches Plus One

Google Rolls Out Plus One

Google is rolling out a new service that will allow its members to share their opinions of web pages with friends. The service, called Plus One, will allow users to give their recommendations to contacts in their Gmail account, Google reader, and Buzz initially, and there are plans to further expand this to Twitter contacts. Google is also planning on extending the service to news sites to allow them to include the Plus One function with stories. There is no announcement of plans to incorporate Facebook contacts at this time.

Unfortunately, only 2 percent of Google’s English-language users will be included in the initial trial of the service. This new function is seen by many as an attempt by Google to copy Facebook’s “Like” function, but the search giant is denying the claim pointing out the differences. Their service, unlike Facebook’s, will only be provided during similar relevant searches instead of a blanket distribution to all contacts in a spam fashion. They also say that there are plans to allow users to select whether the recommendations are taken into account when they perform web searches. The company is hopeful for Plus One, considering that many see the social services of the internet as where the future lies.