IIA Security Portal

Facebook burst back onto the news this morning with word of 3 Federal Opposition MPs having trouble with their Facebook accounts... Well there are actually more than 3 politicians having trouble with their computers. This month I have seen Politicians with Facebook Link Viruses, Hijacked Website links, Virus infections, Social Networking issues, compromised Facebook pages, the list goes on...

Today we’re talking Facebook compromises. There are 3 primary ways this sort of intrusion can occur.

1. You, or someone you trust with your password, accidentally click the "Accept" button. Life is busy, and sometimes you don't read the fine print. It does happen. And, based upon the Scientific process, it is the simplest and therefore most likely option.

2. Your password has been stolen at some time. This is a remarkably common occurrence at the moment. Prime cause being a common password between Facebook and other online services. If one of these services has lax security and your password gets compromised, then your Facebook stands a good chance of being targeted as well. While I realise it’s a chore, you should use different passwords for other services. There exist some very good password managers out there that can help you in this area. You could also have lost your password to a Facebook Link virus at some stage. In any case, changing your password might just be a good idea!

3. Your Facebook session has been hijacked. This is the least likely option, but is still possible. Plugins for Firefox such as the Firesheep plugin make this a more common occurrence. The best defence against this and other session snooping, is to turn on Browser Security in Facebook.

To Turn on Secure Browsing (https), go to the top right hand corner of the Facebook screen and click the “Account” drop-down menu. From there, you’ll see the “Account Settings” option. Click on that to get the “My Account” screen up. Third option from the bottom on this screen is “Account Security”. Click that. Now tick the box next to “Browse Facebook on a secure connection (https) whenever possible”. Finally, click the blue “Save” button.