Facebook exceeds 500,000,000 users

Last night Facebook announced that it had over 500 000 000 users. Some facts that have come out of this are that: 8% of the entire world are on Facebook Metro Facebook was valued at $11.5 billion The Telegraph More than 150 million log in through their phone The Guardian Taken from TalkWeb

October 24, 2010 Â· 1 min Â· 53 words Â· Omid Farhang

MySpace moves against apps who share user data

New York (CNN) — Social networking site MySpace, while acknowledging it shares profile information with advertisers, said Saturday that it is taking action against app developers who may have violated the website’s terms of use by sharing user data. A spokesman for MySpace who refused to be named told CNN that it shares information with advertisers, but that it does not identify a user. Although MySpace users are not required to provide an actual name when registering, their user IDs link the public information displayed on their profile, which can sometimes reveal names, addresses and other critical information. ...

October 24, 2010 Â· 2 min Â· 358 words Â· Omid Farhang

Facebook touts encryption as solution to security flaw

Facebook has proposed a solution to a recent security flaw that allowed apps to transmit personal data that involves encrypting the relevant string of numbers, according to a post on its Developer Blog on Thursday. The new set of parameters would allow developers to apply encryption within the next few weeks, preventing data that identifies application users from leaking to places it shouldn’t be. ...

October 22, 2010 Â· 2 min Â· 268 words Â· Omid Farhang

Facebook Privacy Issues – again

Media report about a new privacy leak on Facebook which has been found just recently. It is possible to find out with which persons someone is in contact with – therefore one just has to create a fake account using a known email address of the person to spy upon. Facebook doesn’t verify whether the address is real so the new account can already be used. Up to 20 contacts are visible according to the reports. ...

October 18, 2010 Â· 1 min Â· 170 words Â· Omid Farhang

Fake Twitter homepage kit serves up naked ladies and infection files

You might be wondering why the frontpage of Twitter has a big “Edit” line running through it in the screenshot below: The answer, of course, is that this is not the real Twitter page at all. It’s part of an increasingly popular kit used for shenanigans: The scammer downloads the zip, edits the links in the .htm file and places something likely to catch the attention of an end-user underneath the “Edit” line. The fact that the fake content is sitting directly underneath the “New Twitter” promotional text is not a coincidence. ...

October 18, 2010 Â· 2 min Â· 279 words Â· Omid Farhang

New Likejacking-Attack on Facebook

Currently a new likejacking-attack is running on Facebook. If a user clicks on the link of a friend which is reads “I Will NEVER TEXT Again After Seeing THIS!! on CLICK HERE TO SEE.”, she or he will automatically “like” that link too due to some clever scripting on the attacking website. A second like-link says “This American GUY must be Stoned to Death for doing this to a GIRL (NO SURVEYS)! … on CLICK HERE TO SEE.”. This is another variant of the same likejacking-attack. ...

October 18, 2010 Â· 1 min Â· 97 words Â· Omid Farhang

Facebook apps transmitted personal info

NEW YORK — The Wall Street Journal is reporting that 10 popular Facebook applications have been transmitting users’ personal identifying information to dozens of advertising and Internet tracking companies. The newspaper said Monday that the breach also includes users who set all their information to be completely private. And in some cases, it says, the apps provided access to friends’ names. ...

October 18, 2010 Â· 1 min Â· 117 words Â· Omid Farhang

Facebook and Skype deal to dial friends and family

Skype is integrating with Facebook to make it easier to call and video chat with friends and family on the social network. The deal comes amid fevered rumors that Facebook plans to launch a phone of its own. Meanwhile Skype is gearing up for a $100m share issue.

October 17, 2010 Â· 1 min Â· 48 words Â· Omid Farhang

Facebook: Giving You More Control?

Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, has announced on their blog that the site will soon be offering new features and controls. The features include New Facebook Groups, a Dashboard for Applications, and the ability to Download Your Information. #1 — Why the “new” Groups? According to Zuckerberg, people frequently tell them: “I’d share this thing, but I don’t want to bother 250 people. Or my grandmother. Or my boss.” ...

October 16, 2010 Â· 3 min Â· 493 words Â· Omid Farhang

Facebook Introduces Disposable Passwords

Accessing Facebook from a public computer or Internet cafe can now be done more securely. Moving to enhance online security, Facebook on Tuesday said that it will soon offer users the ability to receive one-time passwords on their mobile phones and that it has already enabled the ability to sign out of Facebook remotely. “We’re launching one-time passwords to make it safer to use public computers in places like hotels, cafes or airports,” said Facebook product manager Jake Brill in a blog post. “If you have any concerns about security of the computer you’re using while accessing Facebook, we can text you a one-time password to use instead of your regular password.” ...

October 15, 2010 Â· 2 min Â· 353 words Â· Omid Farhang