Facebook security sucks!

[Czarcasm]

I just sent my second letter off to Facebook:

Originally Posted by Czarcasm

Sometime yesterday my Facebook account was stolen, and I have been jumping though your hoops since then trying to get it back. Your new identification program is impossible to pass! To get my own Facebook account back, you are asking me to match 5 profile pictures to their owners. I have friended, for gaming purposes, over 2000 people, and a good percentage of them change their pictures frequently. Even a person with a photographic memory couldn't pass your test! Either find some way to give me my account back, or shut it down before the person who stole it completely ruins my reputation.

Who here with a decent number of Facebook friends could match 5 random profile pictures with their owners without fail? Hell, I've got 5 different people who use the same picture of Yosemite Sam! Poeple change their pictures on different occasions or to join some internet interest group-one week a yellow support ribbon, the next week showing childhood pictures, and the week after that a picture of a loved one who died. WTF, Facebook-the "show yourself as a child" event was one you threw to celebrate an anniversary!
I want my ghod damn page back!

[Czarcasm]

Before anyone asks, the first thing I did was change my email password to destroy any possible links between it and Facebook.

[Simplicio]

Can't you reset your password with the email account used to create the account?

FWIW, I could match 5 pictures to users, but then I only have ~200 friends.

[Czarcasm]

No. The rat bastard what stole my account already did that.

[LouisB]

Personally, I am utterly baffled as to why anyone, anywhere, feels to the need to have a Facebook account or to be involved with them in anyway. YMMV and obviously does and I honestly don't mean my comment to be as snarky as it sounds. Its just that when it comes to Facebook and others of its ilk, I just don't get it. But I'm an old guy and no longer hip, or whatever the current word is.

[ivan astikov]

I'm an older guy and I'm hip as fuck, and I still don't see the attraction of Facebook.

Let it go, Czarcasm; it's not the end of the world just yet.

ps. Who the fuck would want to pretend to be you?

[Czarcasm]

I belong to a few organizations that use it, and I like playing Facebook games like Castle Age and Superhero City.

[Czarcasm]

Originally Posted by Simplicio

Can't you reset your password with the email account used to create the account?

FWIW, I could match 5 pictures to users, but then I only have ~200 friends.

Do you know if any of your friends have ever changed their profile picture?

[Cicero]

I do not like Facebook but still go through the hoops. But Czarcasm, how on this earth could you have 2,000 friends? I gather that it is for gaming purposes but is Facebook that powerful a gaming tool?

I have never played a single game on Facebook. There are not enough ignore buttons. And I don't care if some Manta has a fin caught in a trap.

[Czarcasm]

Originally Posted by Cicero

I do not like Facebook but still go through the hoops. But Czarcasm, how on this earth could you have 2,000 friends? I gather that it is for gaming purposes but is Facebook that powerful a gaming tool?

I have never played a single game on Facebook. There are not enough ignore buttons. And I don't care if some Manta has a fin caught in a trap.

If you play any of the larger games, it is damn easy to get 500 to a 1000 friends. One game out their recently limited how many people could be on the same team...to 3000!

[Cicero]

Is it necessary to befriend them to play? I really have no idea.

And I agree their vetting procedure sucks for reinstating your account.

But- given your worldliness and being a Mod here, how did you allow your account to be stolen?

[FoieGrasIsEvil]

Other than to be a jerk, why would anyone steal a Facebook account? Is there a profit motive for doing that?

[Czarcasm]

I set the account on the counter at the lunchroom, went to get my chocolate pudding cup, and when I came back it was gone!
I have no idea how my account was hacked.

[Czarcasm]

Originally Posted by FoieGrasIsEvil

Other than to be a jerk, why would anyone steal a Facebook account? Is there a profit motive for doing that?

A spammer would collect names of people with similar interests, while a game hacker would transfer gold pieces(or whatever the game currency was for that game) and items to her/his own account.

[ivan astikov]

Sounds like an inside jobby job.

[FoieGrasIsEvil]

Originally Posted by Czarcasm

A spammer would collect names of people with similar interests, while a game hacker would transfer gold pieces(or whatever the game currency was for that game) and items to her/his own account.

Ah. But then that's not "real money", so what's the point? Simply to gain an advantage in a little Facebook game? Jeez.
I have a Facebook account but I hardly ever use it and I never play any of the games and ignore all invites to everything.

[Skald the Rhymer]

Originally Posted by LouisB

Personally, I am utterly baffled as to why anyone, anywhere, feels to the need to have a Facebook account or to be involved with them in anyway. YMMV and obviously does and I honestly don't mean my comment to be as snarky as it sounds. Its just that when it comes to Facebook and others of its ilk, I just don't get it. But I'm an old guy and no longer hip, or whatever the current word is.

I use facebook because my two favorite sisters live in Nashville and Washington DC, respectively, while the friends I am closest too live in even further away--one in Singapore. Facebook is an easy way to stay involved in their lives. I don't play games like Farmville or whatever it's called, but I value being able to stay in regular contact with them in a way that the distance differences in time zone do not allow.

[Smeghead]

Originally Posted by Cicero

Is it necessary to befriend them to play? I really have no idea.

There are a large number of games that are specifically designed to get you to have lots of friends also playing the game. They do this because the more people playing, the more money they get, either through advertising or selling game items for real money. Ideally, they want you to convince all of your real-life friends to also play the game, bringing in new eyeballs, but in reality, people just join forums where people already playing can just friend each other.

[MeanOldLady]

Who'd you piss off?

[Leaper]

Originally Posted by LouisB

Personally, I am utterly baffled as to why anyone, anywhere, feels to the need to have a Facebook account or to be involved with them in anyway.

Well, there's this guy who already has an account with the exact same (unusual) name as me, who's friended several people who I know, who obviously think he's me. I'm tempted to join just so I can show that he's not me if he ever says/does something stupid.

[Czarcasm]

Well, I just got my account back. Facebook says the hijacker was in Russia.

[Cicero]

Originally Posted by Czarcasm

Well, I just got my account back. Facebook says the hijacker was in Russia.

In Russia hacker come to you!

(Sorry, but I was going to post about the name Czarcasm being appealing in Russia).

[Wile E]

Our work computer virus scanner just found a few Trojans. Some research indicated they may be from playing games or taking polls on Facebook. Could this have been his it was hacked?

[Cat Whisperer]

Originally Posted by Czarcasm

I set the account on the counter at the lunchroom, went to get my chocolate pudding cup, and when I came back it was gone!<snip>

Well, that's what you get for leaving your things lying around.

[Zeriel]

Originally Posted by FoieGrasIsEvil

Ah. But then that's not "real money", so what's the point? Simply to gain an advantage in a little Facebook game? Jeez.
I have a Facebook account but I hardly ever use it and I never play any of the games and ignore all invites to everything.

The reason is that stuff is worth real money.

Not REALLY related, but I had an online gaming account stolen briefly from me last year--I got it and my stuff back, but meanwhile the guy who stole it sold my things on ebay for a cumulative total of $550 or so. Do that a few times a week and you don't need a job anymore, especially say if you live in China.

You might be surprised at how seriously people take even things like Farmville to the point of spending real money on them. So scammers steal accounts and sell whatever they can for slightly less than the "official" price to other people.

[pulykamell]

Originally Posted by LouisB

Personally, I am utterly baffled as to why anyone, anywhere, feels to the need to have a Facebook account or to be involved with them in anyway.

Other than the obvious social aspect of it, it's a great business tool. I don't actively market myself through Facebook (though there is an album of my work on there), but I have gotten several thousands of dollars worth of work through it, just from old reconnected friends/acquaintances, or by their word of mouth. There's plenty of reasons to use Facebook. If it's not for you, though, it's not for you, but I'm baffled with how anyone could be confused as Facebook's utility and appeal. Now, Twitter, on the other hand.... That one I don't completely understand.

[DiosaBellissima]

Originally Posted by Czarcasm

Who here with a decent number of Facebook friends could match 5 random profile pictures with their owners without fail?

Me. Because I don't add strangers, just people I actually know. I'd imagine the majority of folks who use Facebook are in a similar boat, so that's why this is in general a good recovery system.

[Lunchy]

Well, Ifigured out nothing was secure about Facebook when my password (my car) started somehow generating ads for my car and part stores with my car's name, even without previous mention of the make and model anywhere on my page or messages.

[jsgoddess]

Originally Posted by DiosaBellissima

Me. Because I don't add strangers, just people I actually know. I'd imagine the majority of folks who use Facebook are in a similar boat, so that's why this is in general a good recovery system.

I don't add strangers, and I only have 79 friends, but I couldn't identify most of their profile pictures on a dare.

[MeanOldLady]

Yeah, obviously I can tell the difference between my best friend and my cousin Sam, but people use all kinds of junk as profile pictures. Some people post their dogs, or their garden, or vacations photos from their trip to China, and whatever else. If facebook ever asked me to identify whose photo this Lakers logo belongs to, I'd fail. Hell if I know all of that.

[Ann Hedonia]

Originally Posted by DiosaBellissima

Me. Because I don't add strangers, just people I actually know. I'd imagine the majority of folks who use Facebook are in a similar boat, so that's why this is in general a good recovery system.

I only add people I actually know and I only have something like 35 friends but I doubt I could identify any 5 at random.

I'm in the 50+ age group, and most of my FB friends are old pals and aquaintances from high school and college. While I have retained MY looks and look just as I did at age 20, most of my friends haven't and they look drastically different today.

Add to that the common practice of using odd pictures ( my nephew has a picture of himself in a swimming pool but I would be hard pressed to ID even the gender of the swimmer if I didn't know it was him ) and non-pictures ( cartoons and stuff).

When I found many of these old friends on FB I didn't recognize their photos, I knew I had the right "Joe Smith" or whatever by the background info and mutual friends.

[Shot From Guns]

Besides the issue of "profile photos that aren't actually of people," you also have the issue of "photo of someone I haven't seen in person since college, or high school, or even grade school." Hell, there are guys I dated who I barely recognize in their photos.

Originally Posted by LouisB

Personally, I am utterly baffled as to why anyone, anywhere, feels to the need to have a Facebook account or to be involved with them in anyway.

For me, it's a big address book, as well as a way to coordinate activities (especially larger events like friends' bands shows, shooting scenes for friends' films or music videos, fundraisers for things like a friend's SRS, etc.).

Originally Posted by FoieGrasIsEvil

Other than to be a jerk, why would anyone steal a Facebook account? Is there a profit motive for doing that?

Besides the things previously mentioned, hijacked accounts can be used to spam invitations to people to groups that contain links to virus-infested websites (ostensibly offering free gadgets, movie downloads, etc.).

Originally Posted by Czarcasm

I have no idea how my account was hacked.

You seem to play a lot of FB games. How careful are you about the applications you add? (Or is it even possible to get hacked through a FB app?)