INTERNET USERS WARNED OF HACK ON PERSONAL ID

By Zakaria Abdul Wahab

SINGAPORE, June 25 (Bernama) -- IT security and control firm Sophos has
again warned internet users not to place their personal information on the
internet as it could be used by the unscrupulous to commit identity fraud.

The warning comes after popular social networking website Facebook was
discovered to have contained a flaw that could have allowed hackers to access
sensitive profile information about any of the site's 200 million-plus users.

In a statement here, Sophos said data such as date of birth, home town,
gender, family members, relationship status and political and religious views
could be used to commit ID fraud.

The creators of blog FBHive.com discovered a simple hack that would show
everything listed in a Facebook member's 'Basic Information' panel, even if
this
information had been hidden by the user with the website's security settings.

Using the security hole, FBHive was able to access personal information
about Facebook Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg, Digg Founder Kevin Rose
and famous blogger Cory Doctorow, said Sophos.

However, it said the loophole had now been fixed by Facebook, but it was
unknown if hackers had been using information exposed by the security flaw for
criminal ends.

The IT firm advised that it would be best for internet users to keep their
personal information off the internet.

-- BERNAMA