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A survey carried out by computer scientists has shown 24% of us have accessed the Facebook accounts of people we know without their knowledge.
The practice stretches from fairly insignificant “frapes” – where accounts are hacked to post silly statuses or change birthdays – to more worrying cases of snooping motivated by jealousy or ill will.
Scientists from the University of British Columbia asked 1,308 adult Facebook users whether they’d logged into their friends’ accounts, either by guessing passwords, taking advantage of already logged-in browsers, or sneakily using apps on the victim’s phone.
The study looked at the motivation behind this type of hack – if people were doing it for fun they were usually opportunistic. In darker cases involving jealousy, half the time it was premeditated.
Computing professor Ivan Beschastnikh, a co-author on the paper, said: “Jealous snoops generally plan their action and focus on personal messages, accessing the account for 15 minutes or longer.”
The researchers call these types of hacks “social insider” attacks, as the hacker knows their victim. This may seem more innocent than someone you don’t know having access to your data, but it’s still of interest to cyber security experts.
Although this kind of attack is common, they found it often has serious emotional consequences for the victim. So think about that next time you go to frape someone.
To prevent your loved ones snooping on you as much as we now know they do, the researchers recommend regularly changing your password and logging off the social network.
This is what incognito mode is for, people.
You can read the full paper here.
