The latest Facebook hack which has affected thousands of users worldwide is not just about data breach. It has also become a cause of embarrassment to many as their profile pictures have now made way to porn sites. Facebook accounts are being flooded with graphic images of violence and pornography. According to reports, more than two lakhs Facebook accounts from Bangalore have been attacked. A number of users have complained that their profile pictures have been put on porn sites. Globally, more than 60 lakh Facebook accounts have been reportedly hacked since Sunday night.
The virus, rapidly spreading across the social network, has flooded accounts with gruesome images of hardcore porn and violence. Facebook has also acknowledged the presence of the virus and is presently investigating the matter. The Christian Post, which first reported about the virus, says the virus and spam attacks could be the work of notorious hackers group Anonymous. The hackers group had previously pledged of launching attack on the social networking site.
Meanwhile, Facebook released a statement, accepting the existence of the virus. It said, “Protecting the people who use Facebook from spam and malicious content is a top priority for us, and we are always working to improve our systems to isolate and remove material that violates our terms. Recently, we experienced a coordinated spam attack that exploited a browser vulnerability. Our efforts have drastically limited the damage caused by this attack, and we are now in the process of investigating to identify those responsible.”
Profile Pics Put On Porn Sites
It had a link to a website, and on clicking I saw my face morphed and pasted onto the body of a porn star. My name and details were also available on the website. I called the police, but they directed me to the cybercrime police station,” said Kamini Varma (name changed).
Kamini’s last post said that she was quitting the popular social networking site after being embarrassed amongst their friends. There were around 50 other posts on Facebook that stated the users are quitting the social networking site forever after being embarrassed before friends and family.
“The website is no longer safe. My friend had posted a link to a news report claiming to have been published in a popular newspaper on my page on Sunday. Since the title said ‘Party till the wee hours’ I got excited and clicked on it but nothing appeared. The next day I logged on to find that everything had changed.
My female friends alleged that I had stolen photos from their account and sold it to porn sites. Others had called me a ‘porn addict’ and many others left abusive messages. I immediately deactivated my account,” said Shivam Shah, student (name changed).
Following this huge incident, many social media experts huddled up and debated if this would lead to the eventual downfall of Facebook now.
Source: NDTV
Orkut Fell In The Same Fashion:
“Orkut fell in the same fashion. As much as Orkut officials claimed that Facebook had beaten it in popularity, many reports nail the fact that consistent hacking on the social networking site for over six months (before Facebook became popular) had led to its immediate downfall and eventual social death.
Facebook seems to be headed in the same direction, unless there is some sort of immediate and strict measures taken by Facebook,” said Suhas Giri, a city-based popular social media expert.
The privacy breach is certainly a serious jolt to Facebook, which claims of having more than 750 million users. Facebook has previously said that it has been consistently attacked by spammers and hackers. However, the social networking site should do more to prevent such attacks in order to sustain its popularity.