D/EU: The risk of identity theft on the World Wide Web

Category: Nachrichten
By: R. Olschewski - 2B Advice GmbH - the privacy benchmark

Being the CEO of an international company, having important friends, having contact details on all VIPs, and being able to engage in a stimulating exchange of ideas with them.

Nothing could be easier - as one clever Facebook user discovered after registering on the world-famous network as Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google Inc.

Very quickly, he had acquired famous friends who provided him with access to their profile pages and, in turn, with contact details on even more important public figures.

 

Indeed, a check or verification of the stated e-mail address or personal identity was never undertaken. And neither the contact person nor the internet service provider doubted the false identity. Admittedly, the internet portal did request appropriate confirmation of the stated e-mail address, but this did not block the user from further use of the portal, nor, for example, from exchanging private messages with the founder of YouTube and Facebook's Vice President.

 

In the meantime, the error has been resolved by the user whose experiences have been published on the internet. However, those responsible for the scandal-ridden social networking site, Facebook, have yet to issue a statement as to how such abuse should be avoided in the future.

 

Just how easy it is to assume a specific role and create a false identity is frightening, particularly when you consider the commercial or sinister implications this could have. Reputational damage is also possible through unknown individuals assuming false names on the internet.

 

Those who wish to avoid falling victim to fraud should professionally identify their business and communication contacts, rather than relying on the simple exchange of e-mail addresses. Whether this identification occurs by means of an electronic signature or an appropriate in-company procedure should be decided by the company's organizational and security consulting departments.

 

 

 

Source: techcrunch.com/2010/10/10/being-eric-schmidt-on-facebook/

(990 times viewed)