Social media users could have been "exploited"

MySpace and Facebook users could have had their identities stolen through a security leak on the site, according to an expert.

"Enormous" damage could have been done by a security flaw that appeared to allow hackers access to users' social media accounts, asserted an industry expert.

Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos, pointed out that these security holes have now been plugged, but they could have affected millions of people.

Last week, a developer found that hackers could access users' pictures and data on MySpace and Facebook, due to a coding error.

Mr Cluley observed that the developer acted very responsibly by contacting the relevant security teams before going public.

He explained: "A malicious hacker could have exploited this vulnerability to gather information about users and potentially collect data, which would have helped them steal identities."

In his view, people expect social networking sites to look after personal information and not share it with strangers.

The security flaw in this case related to the way that social media sites handle cross-domain policy requests and the data that could be shared in this way.

11/11/2009