Zuckerberg's Facebook Account Hacked
A bug in Facebook's software has allowed subscribers to see the private photos of other Facebook users at least since the last software update on November 27. The hack was first reported on a bodybuilding forum, but didn't receive much attention until yesterday when Mark Zuckeberg's private photos started to show up across the web. Facebook says it shut down the flawed service as soon as it became aware of the problem.
Here's how it worked: a subscriber uses the Report/Block link that appears in the bottom right when you roll over a picture to report another subscriber's photo as pornographic. The blocking tool then asks for your help in identifying other photos that should be blocked as part of that account - which is where the bug comes in. Not only were the public photos of that account presented, but private photos as well.
Some are reporting that the software bug has been used to view the private pictures of minors who have Facebook profiles.This is especially disturbing given a recent study that shows parents are lying for their underage kids to help them get a Facebook account before they turn 13.
This hack is bad timing for Facebook, coming after an agreement with the FTC to stronger privacy standards and 20 years of external privacy audits. The key difference between the events surrounding the settlement and this security flaw is the settlement related to willful privacy violations by Facebook, whereas any software can be hacked.
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