After Sony’s PlayStation network was targeted by hackers who managed to steal a wealth of personal information from the system post the breach, we now have Symantec reporting that Facebook, the world’s biggest social networking platform might have accidentally leaked your personal information to third parties. According to a blog post on Symantec’s official blog, the information leaked could have included profiles, photographs and even chat messages. They also add that most of this information was leaked to advertisers and that by April 2011; over 100,000 apps were enabling this leakage!
Now, the only thing reassuring about this report is the fact that, since this leak was accidental, those who could have illegally benefitted from it were simply unaware of this leak. But then, it would be similar to leaving your door ajar and hope that a thief doesn’t turn up. Anyway, if you are concerned about people prying on your profile now that they are aware of this security hole, the only way to “fix” the issue is to simply change your Facebook password.
Symantec has added that Facebook has been notified about this security hole and that they have acknowledged the flaw. In fact, they have already started working to fix it. They are however yet to release an official statement regarding this.
