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Hundreds of Facebook groups hijacked

Don Reisinger CNET News | November 10, 2009 10:55 AM PST

Summary

Facebook groups are under attack. But the attackers say they come in peace and insist they want only to highlight a flaw in the way Facebook handles group administration.

Topics

Facebook, Workforce Management, Human Resources, Facbook, attack, security, Don Reisinger CNET News
Facebook groups are under attack. But the attackers say they come in peace and insist they want only to highlight a flaw in the way Facebook handles group administration.

An organization called Control Your Info has taken control of hundreds of Facebook groups. Those groups had administrators that eventually stepped down from their position, creating a power vacuum at the top. According to the organization, when the administrator steps down, anyone can take over a group, view the members' personal information, and change group information to say whatever they want. Control Your Info believes that the way Facebook handles group administration is a major flaw. And it wants to bring that to everyone's attention.

"Hello, we hereby announce that we have officially hijacked your Facebook group," a message written on Monday reads on one hijacked group. "This means we control a certain part of the information about you on Facebook. If we wanted, we could make you appear in a bad way which could damage your image severely."

For more, read "Hundreds of Facebook groups hijacked on CNET News.

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jobusan524 12th Nov 2009
Most people join these groups because of the
novelty of a group's name. No one takes these
groups seriously, and that's often the reason why
a "power vacuum" may arise at the "top." FB should
just weed out these dead groups, they constitute
senseless clutter and take away from the potential
social networking impact or whatever that groups
can provide.
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Hijacking
vger_z 10th Nov 2009
This is like telling someone that they will be murderd to spare them the pain of dying. bullchit. c'mon facebook, hire people capable of managing a secure site or shut it down.
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Social Networking = Disaster
use_linux 10th Nov 2009
Only a fool puts private data on a public domain!
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OMG!
Pete "athynz" Athens 10th Nov 2009
STOP USING SOCIAL NETWORKING, IT CAN BE HACKED! STOP USING THE INTERNET, IT CAN BE HACKED! STOP USING A COMPUTER, IT CAN BE HACKED! STOP USING A CELL PHONE, IT CAN BE HACKED! STOP USING A BANK ACCOUNT, IT CAN BE HACKED!

Sorry, social networking critics and alarmists bring out the worst in me...

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Agreed.
HypnoToad72 10th Nov 2009
They DO have a responsibility, but I won't argue that T.M.I. really is T.M.I when it comes to T.M.I...

(in English, the truth is in the middle... both of you are by and large correct.)
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RE: Hundreds of Facebook groups hijacked
oacomputers 11th Nov 2009
The importance of maintaining up-to-date security policies simply cannot be over-stressed!
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RE: Hundreds of Facebook groups hijacked
securityboy 12th Nov 2009
I believe FB already knew about this hole, so it hasn't
surprised me that someone has exploited the hole right
now. I'm a little surprised that the hole hasn't been
filled.

Securityboy
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RE: Hundreds of Facebook groups hijacked
securityboy 12th Nov 2009
That's 300m+ fools! sad

Securityboy
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RE: Hundreds of Facebook groups hijacked
Keywalker4God 12th Nov 2009
This would be an easy fix. If the administrator steps down, all of the users should go away too. There might be a window of opportunity left if it took a little while for the group to choose a new admin but that time period should be very limited. Or better yet, the group could be required to have 2 admins before one could step down or the group would go away when an admin vacates. (with appropriate warnings of course)
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alternatively ...
jobusan524 12th Nov 2009
Most people join these groups because of the
novelty of a group's name. No one takes these
groups seriously, and that's often the reason why
a "power vacuum" may arise at the "top." FB should
just weed out these dead groups, they constitute
senseless clutter and take away from the potential
social networking impact or whatever that groups
can provide.

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