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A Facebook glitch points up more security problems on the social networking site, while a new survey shows some people (your staff, maybe?) don’t take advantage of basic privacy controls.

Facebook’s already-hurting reputation for privacy took another hit last Wednesday (5th May 2010) when the Internet’s biggest hangout had to disable its live chat facility for a few hours because a security flaw allowed users to spy on their friends’ personal information. With just a few clicks users could exploit the site’s privacy features – which actually are intended to protect users – to spy on friends’ personal chat messages and see pending “friend” and other requests.

The security breach worked via an option in the privacy settings that lets people preview their profiles as they would appear to friends. TechCrunch first reported the breach, you can watch the video here.

The news of Facebook’s latest security glitch comes as a Consumer Reports survey suggests that almost a quarter of the site’s users aren’t even trying to protect their data.

The study found that 23 percent of users were either unaware of the site’s privacy protection offerings – or had chosen to disable the protections. What’s more, users were engaging in risky behavior online – behavior that could leave them (and possibly the companies they work for) vulnerable to hackers and worse.

More than two in five users (42 percent) confessed they’d left their full date of birth visible to others, while just over a quarter (26 percent) of adult users had posted the full names of their children, complete with photos and descriptions. Seven percent posted their full street address, and three percent revealed when they were away from home.

More on inc.com

Cheers

Lucio Ribeiro

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