May 30, 2013

When Friends Create Enemies



Pitt study shows how Facebook’s mutual-friends feature creates security risks, privacy concerns

The mutual-friends feature on social networks such as Facebook, which displays users’ shared friendships, might not be so “friendly.”

Often revered for bringing people together, the mutual-friends feature on Facebook actually creates myriad security risks and privacy concerns according to a University of Pittsburgh study published in Computers & Security. The study demonstrates that even though users can tailor their privacy settings, hackers can still find private information through mutual-friends features.