Category: Social Media

Facebook Logins for Sale

Hackers are selling Facebook logins for as little as £2 on the Dark Web according to recent investigation.

The “Dark Web” is that part of the internet that isn’t visible to search engines and requires the use of an anonymous browser called “Tor” to be accessed.

Research on multiple dark web marketplaces shows that criminals can buy such details easily from numerous suppliers on the dark web.  It appears that Facebook logins can be bought from £2.30 and email logins for as little as £2.10, while credit cards details can be bought from £10.40 and debit card details from £14.90.

Logins for AirBnb cost from £7.70 and eBay logins are being sold from £4.40.

The investigation conducted by the price compare site found that you could purchase the majority of someone’s online life details for £744.30.

This includes usernames, passwords, email addresses and any personal details associated with your account, such as name, address and phone numbers.

Social media accounts are often stolen to sell to companies with no respect for privacy when it comes to targeted advertising.

Approximate Costs on the Dark Web:-

  • Finance (credit cards, debit cards, online marketing, PayPal) = £619.40
  • Online shopping (Amazon prime, Groupon, eBay, Tesco) = £30.30
  • Travel (Airbnb, British Airways, Uber, Expedia) = £26.40
  • Entertainment (Apple ID, Netflix, Spotify, Tidal, Steam) = £27.90
  • Social media (Facebook, Reddit, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter) = £18.40
  • Email and Communication (AOL, Gmail, Hotmail, T-Mobile) = £21.90

It really is important to protect your data where possible to avoid facing costly consequences.

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Google and Google+

Google has said that it found a software glitch in its Google+ social network in March 2018 that could have exposed the personal data of as many as half a million users, but decided not to tell the public until months later.

Google found the flaw in March during an extensive privacy and security review according to Ben Smith, Google vice president of engineering. An internal committee decided not to disclose the potential breach of Google+ because there wasn’t evidence of any misuse of the exposed data, which included names, email addresses, ages and occupations. The bug was immediately fixed at the time, he said.

The Federal Trade Commission, as the nation’s chief privacy watchdog, has the authority to investigate data breaches. The FTC can fine companies when they violate terms of a consent decree.

Google has said it plans to shut down Google+ for consumers (but leave it running for businesses) and introduce new privacy tools restricting how developers can use information on products ranging from email to file storage.

Google+ was never anywhere near as successful as Facebook and social media networks. Even so, many users still have a profile that has personal information on it. Google will shut it down over the coming months for consumers, but keep the version built for businesses open and operating.

The other changes Google is making include requiring apps to ask separately for each type of information they want from a user, such as access to calendars or address books. On Gmail, Google’s ubiquitous email service, only apps that improve email functionality will be allowed to request access.

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A Little Truth from Facebook

Facebook’s Chief Security Officer Alex Stamos resigned from Facebook in March 2018 and implored his colleagues to take responsibility for the social network’s failings.

He sent a note to employees attributing the social network’s problems to “tens of thousands of small decisions made over the last decade.”

His comments included:-

  • We need to build a user experience that conveys honesty and respect, not one optimised to get people to click yes to giving us more access.
  • We need to intentionally not collect data where possible, and to keep it only as long as we are using it to serve people.
  • We need to listen to people (including internally) when they tell us a feature is creepy or point out a negative impact we are having in the world.
  • We need to deprioritize short-term growth and revenue.
  • We need to be open, honest and transparent about challenges and what we are doing to fix them.

These are all issues that many people outside of Facebook have known about the company for a long time – the company is nasty, self-serving, greedy and obnoxious but it’s good to hear a senior insider trying to get the message through to his colleagues at Facebook.

Let’s hope someone listens.

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Facebook Improves Privacy

 

 

Facebook has woken up to the fact that people will no longer put up with Facebook’s disregard for people’s privacy and they are starting to make changes designed to help Facebook users rather than just Facebook’s bank account.

Privacy Alerts

You may have seen an alert, upon visiting your News Feed, asking you to review your privacy settings. Facebook will show you a series of these which cover various topics:

– How Facebook use data from partners to show more relevant advertising

– Political, religious and relationship information you’ve chosen to include in your profile

– How Facebook use facial recognition

– Updates to the terms of service and data policy

You’ll see a summary of the choices you’ve already made and be given the chance to make changes.

Privacy Controls

They’ve redesigned the settings menu on mobile devices to make privacy controls easier to find and use and it’s all accessible from one screen. They’ve also made it clearer to see what information can and can’t be shared with apps.

In addition, there’s a new Privacy Shortcuts feature. From here you can have quick access to the most widely used privacy settings and tools.

Access Your Information

They’ve created a tool called ‘Access Your Information’ – a secure way to access and manage your information, such as posts, reactions, comments, and things you’ve searched for. You can find, download and delete any or all of your Facebook data.

Reward for reporting data misuse

A Data Abuse Bounty was launched recently to reward people who report any misuse of data by app developers.

It’s part of the efforts to more quickly uncover potential abuse of people’s information.

Facebook say they quickly review and respond to reports that identify a credible threat to people’s information, be it a case where a Facebook platform app is trying to collect people’s data to sell it, or pass it onto another party to be sold, or used for scams or political influence. If confirmed data abuse, they’ll shut down the offending app and take legal action against the company selling or buying the data if necessary. Facebook will reward the person who reported the issue and also alert those believed to be affected.

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