Hackers break into Facebook

By Isabelle Chaize

Hackers recently managed to break through Facebook’s security barriers, raising concerns for businesses whose employees use social networking sites.

The security lapse allowed open access to private photos, supposed to be visible only to members’ friends.

The photos belonged to celebrities such as ‘it-girl’ Paris Hilton, as well as Facbook founder Mark Zuckerburg.

With the explosion in the popularity of social networking sites, and a growing number of people accessing them whilst at work using their company’s network, this puts businesses at risk of an attack via Facebook.

David Lavenda, vice president of marketing and product strategy at web security firm WorkLight, said that businesses needed to be aware of the risks posed by social networking sites which could enable hackers to access confidential client-to-business information.

‘Business access to web 2.0 sites like Facebook can produce compelling cost and working efficiencies, but businesses should be ready to implement appropriate security measures’, he said.

The breach came after the recent implementation of new security settings for Facebook on March 19th, which were designed to help users control who could see their profile more efficiently.

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