Facebook Security Breach Exposes Your Private Photos (Summer 2008)

by Pattie Stone, Principal, pattiedesign (multimedia designers)

Okay, I’ll admit that I too have found it very tempting to post photos of friends, family, vacations, etc. to share with my ‘certain friends-only’ connections on Facebook. In fact, I do have some photos posted of NYC parks (my favorite), my dog, and a few other silly photos. But don’t be fooled into a false sense of security because you’ve posted photos for ‘friends-only’ to view.

Facebook, the popular social networking site with 70 million members, suffered a setback when computer technician Bryon Ng from Vancouver, Canada found that these ‘friends-only’ controls didn’t prevent him from viewing the most recent pictures posted on Facebook, even though they were tagged for a restricted ‘certain friends-only’ audience. It’s not only that, even without this security breach, who’s to say that your ‘friends’ on Facebook are the only ones that have access to their account. They can also copy your photos and email to anyone they choose.

I’m reminded of a story of a recent college graduate who posted quite unflattering photos of themselves and friends when they were obviously quite drunk… along with a comment from one of the friends in the photos posting “I don’t even remember that evening.” Now just imagine these photos getting into the wrong hands or being seen by a current or potential employer.

Bottom line: If you have pictures that you don’t want certain people to see, don’t post them on any social networking site. Remember, while you can control what you put online, you cannot control what others do with your information.