Hackers crack into Facebook - An article

The 1999 sci-fi futuristic blockbuster The Matrix begins with an online conversation between two rebel hackers — Trinity and Cypher (who eventually turns out to be a traitor). When Trinity asks him, "Are you sure this line is clean?" it only appears to be a fitting metaphor for the troubled times that modern netizens are living in. The social networking site Facebook, which was until now considered by many surfers, as a clutter-free, comprehensive and secure alternative to its much-abused cousin Orkut, is not as safe as it appears to be.

In fact, according to media reports, actress Sonam Kapoor of Saawariya fame and daughter of Anil Kapoor was recently forced to come to terms with the dubious aspect of social networking sites — the hard way. Apparently, the Gen X actress's Facebook account was hacked into and her private pictures and personal information were leaked out on the Internet. Sonam, who began using Facebook almost a year ago to keep in touch with her friends across the world, was shocked when a friend of hers called her to inform that her photos taken at a party were all over the Internet on movie sites and Bollywood blogs. Following this, Sonam, who was away on a film shoot, asked her brother Harsh to delete all her personal details off the site.

On a similar note, actress Hansika Motwani, who became popular with the film Aap Ka Suroor starring Himesh Reshammiya (who gave her a break as an actress in this film) found that she was added as a member of an 'anti-Himesh' community on Facebook. Although Hansika had denied being a member of the community, the incident proved the compromising state of security on such sites.

Whether it was a technical sl*g that allowed the account to be hacked into or if it was an easy to crack password that facilitated the breach, the incident highlights the perpetual, almost moral question of privacy and safety of communication over the Internet.

Speaking about this, Mr M. L. Srinivasan, technical head, Secure Matrix Solutions, an Internet security company says, "Usually, it's very difficult to crack an encrypted password and few hackers would go the extra mile in order to hack into Facebook or Orkut as there are no financial gains in doing so. However, if one has a password consisting of a word that is available in the dictionary, then password-generating programs can compare the value of the stored password to its dictionary equivalent and easily crack it."

Riya Vyomesh (21), a media professional who has accounts in both Orkut and Facebook says, "Usually, Facebook is considered a lot safer that Orkut owing to several add-on security features like restricted access to personal details, photo blocking, etc. Orkut has now adopted many of these features. But now that Sonam's pictures got leaked on the Internet, everybody's sense of complacency has been rattled."

Shweta Khanna, a college goer says, "I haven't posted any of my pictures on Orkut. But I have them on Facebook. Frankly, I am surprised how someone hacked into it because Facebook doesn't allow anyone to view a user's images unless the user has accepted them as a friend on the site." Riya explains, "In fact, a few weeks ago, someone created a fake profile of mine and even openly put up my cell number on it. Of course, I called up the cyber crime cell of the police and informed them about it. But even before they could take action, the profile disappeared from Orkut. Since then, I have been extra-cautious and I have stopped displaying my name and my pictures on Orkut and Facebook as well. I have also barred strangers from scrapping me."