A hacker created the Facebook torrent that is accessible to anybody who wants files from Facebook data. 171 million Facebook users had their info stolen by a web sprawling code made by Ron Bowes. The file, about 2.8 GB, has been posted online as a torrent. Facebook made their comment on the issue saying all the info is what can be found with a search engine and doesn’t matter all that much. Many feel like this is just another example of how easy it is to hack Facebook with all of the privacy issues they’ve been having recently. Source for this article – Facebook torrent hack makes free download of personal user data by Personal Money Store.
171 million Facebook users exposed
Profile URLs, names, and user IDs of 171 million Facebook users are now being displayed for everyone who wants to get the info. Pirate Bay is where Bowes, who heads Skull Security, has decided to place this torrent for the world, reports the Daily Tech. 13,000 downloads were active July 28, early in the morning. In this torrent, individuals can see any details Facebook users posted to their profile or forgot to take off. Anyone who worked out their privacy settings to say only friends could see their information aren’t in this torrent that Bowes created.
Privacy a problem for Facebook
The Facebook torrent comes at a bad time when Facebook is already suffering the losses from their change on privacy settings to allow commercial use. BBC News has a statement from Facebook saying nobody is going to be hurt by the privacy changed since personal info people “agreed to make public” on their own. Tech Crunch thinks that in light of recent events, it would probably be a good precaution to change all your settings on Facebook so they’re “friends only.” Letting “Everyone” see your Facebook info involves a hacker who can grab your personal data, package it and sell it to the highest bidder.
Permanent info with the Facebook torrent
Google, Bing and Facebooksearch are all engines that will show the information that is within the Facebook torrent. The Facebook torrent contains a simple snapshot in one moment in time of Facebook that will last forever, reports Future. In case you are in it, you will never have that details deleted, even if you make an effort to delete you account completely or change your privacy settings to something else.
Friends of users main focus of Facebook torrent
In addition to the personal data for one fifth of all Facebook users, the Facebook torrent contains the programs Bowes used to mine the data. Tech Crunch explains that Bowes wants more than just searchable users and intends to get the rest. Users are quitting when hoping Facebook will switch privacy settings to be friends only by default-
Go to Account and Privacy Settings and Applications, Games, and Websites (link near the bottom, in a box) and Public Search and (Uncheck box).
Daily Tech
dailytech.com/Info+on+100M+Facebook+Users+Harvested+and+Posted+in+Torrent++Legally/article19198.htm
Tech Crunch
techcrunch.com/2010/07/28/hacker-proves-facebooks-public-data-is-public/
Future of the Internet
futureoftheinternet.org/facebooks-ocean-of-names-becomes-a-torrent
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