Accepting Unknown Friend Requests May Give Hackers Access To Your Facebook Account

People who are careful about their Facebook security and friend requests may not need to hear this, but for everyone else — or if you’ve ever received a friend request and thought “I might have known this person in high school” — consider this new vulnerability that lets hackers bypass the Facebook security question with fake friends.

We’re still testing this security question vulnerability (testing means the account will be locked for 24 hours after the password change), but a reader sent in this tip about how easy it is for a hacker to bypass the security question on Facebook.

Apparently, if you tell Facebook that you no longer have access to your email account(s) or mobile phone, you’ll get the common security question prompt. If you answer the security question wrong (or a hacker does), you can verify your account by sending codes to three friends. Trouble is, a hacker could plant fake friends into your account — if you automatically accept them — and then go through this process to reset your Facebook password.

To protect yourself from this vulnerability, hacker9 recommends registering your mobile phone on Facebook and enabling all the account security settings (including the recently mentioned “Login Approvals” feature). And, of course, be wary when accepting strange friend requests.

Facebook’s Security Question Vulnerability – Bypassing Security Question! [hacker9]


The Cheapest NBN 50 Plans

Here are the cheapest plans available for Australia’s most popular NBN speed tier.

At Lifehacker, we independently select and write about stuff we love and think you'll like too. We have affiliate and advertising partnerships, which means we may collect a share of sales or other compensation from the links on this page. BTW – prices are accurate and items in stock at the time of posting.

Comments


3 responses to “Accepting Unknown Friend Requests May Give Hackers Access To Your Facebook Account”

Leave a Reply