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  • 2012-05-10 (xsd:date)
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  • Does a Facebook Hack 'Hurt and Offend' Friends? (en)
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  • False warnings about hackers invading Facebook accounts have been shared since at least 2011. Some of them involve insulting messages that are purportedly posted to the walls of friends of the rightful owners of those accounts. The copy-and-paste text appears in varying forms in emails and social media posts. For example, this variation from 2021 claimed that a new hack on Facebook aimed to hurt and offend friends: A similar warning was issued in 2015: Facebook accounts can be retooled by hackers to issue missives their actual owners would never send. The posting of derogatory notes on friends' walls is one example. However, the mechanism whereby malcontents gain such control is one of social engineering rather than computer wizardry. There is no special programming trick the ill-intentioned master that allows them to seize control of social media accounts. Further, there is no way for a new hack on Facebook to randomly access personal accounts to use them to send insulting and/or sexual messages in others' names. (So-called Facebook pirates might have been able to achieve a similar effect. However, they did so by creating new accounts that impersonate existing accounts, not by hacking into the latter.) Instead, it comes down to a matter of tricking the unsuspecting into unlocking the door through which invaders gain the access they seek. Those who lose control of their accounts do so through unintentionally installing rogue Facebook applications. Others fall victim to clickjacking schemes when they click on proffered links misleadingly labeled as innocuous or alluring items. Fake Like buttons or links to videos that sound interesting are examples. Another way that some Facebook users are duped involves the execution of malicious Javascript code in their browsers' address bar. This is the case in the November 2011 Facebook porn video attacks, described in further detail on our page. Some even fall prey to phishing schemes. In sum, security-conscious users need not worry about a new hack on Facebook that might hurt, offend, or insult friends. Hackers will not suddenly seize control of Facebook accounts. In order for an account to be hacked, users would have to actively do something to open the door and allow hijackers to access their accounts. (en)
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