A recent study of online security firm Sophos found that an estimated 41% of all Facebook users are willing to give personal information to a stranger may lead to some form of identity theft.
Sophos created a fake Facebook profile and then tried to "connect" with other users of the popular social network. 41% of users of existing Facebook that were addressed given some form of personal information to Sophos.
- 72% of respondents divulged one or more email address
- 84% of interviewees is their date of birth
- 87% of respondents provided details about their education or workplace
- 78% of interviewees is their address or current location
- 23% of interviewees is their current phone number
- 26% of respondents provided their screenname IM
direct access to this type of information by malicious people could leave these Facebook users open to some form of identity theft.
Identity theft is a real threat to both offline and online, and it is important that people use the same best practices to help protect their identity. It is a good idea to limit the amount of personal information that is available on the web. A good rule of thumb is to not expose information on the Internet that you would not give a stranger you across the street.
As the popularity of social networks grows and more and more consumer information is available on the web, we believe it is more important than ever that consumers use the services of a service protection against identity theft such as LifeLock and ID Guard. You can learn about identity protection against theft nextadvisor.com.