Facebook’s Users Info Was Leaked

Facebook users’ personal information could have been accidentally leaked to third parties, in particular advertisers, over the past several years, Symantec Corp said in one of its blog postings.

Third-parties would have had access to personal information such as profiles, photographs and chat, and could have had the ability to post messages, the security software company stated.

“We estimate that as of April 2011, close to 100,000 applications were enabling this leakage,” the blog post said.

” … Over the years, hundreds of thousands of applications may have inadvertently leaked millions of access tokens to third parties,” posing a security threat, the blog post said.

The third-parties may not have realized their ability to access the information, it said.

Facebook, the world’s largest social networking website, was notified of this issue and confirmed the leakage, the blog post said.

It said Facebook has taken steps to resolve the issue.

“Unfortunately, their (Symantec’s) resulting report has a few inaccuracies. Specifically, we have conducted a thorough investigation which revealed no evidence of this issue resulting in a user’s private information being shared with unauthorized third parties,” Facebook spokeswoman Malorie Lucich said in a statement.

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Facebook Growth Very Good

Facebook Inc’s business is growing faster than forecast several months ago and the social media company is on track to surpass $2 billion in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization in 2011, according to a story in The Wall Street Journal.

Facebook’s growth is above the growth projections that circulated when Goldman Sachs and Digital Sky Technologies invested in the closely held Internet company, the newspaper said in its online edition.

The newspaper did not indicate by how much Facebook may exceed those original expectations.

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Terror Alerts To Be Issued Via Facebook, Twitter

The U.S. government may start issuing terror alerts via Facebook and Twitter, according to a news service report.

The Associated Press reported Thursday that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security is working to re-design the current color-coded terror alert system. The new system, according to the report, would have only two levels of alerts — elevated and imminent.

Those alerts would be conveyed out to the public in part via social networking sites Facebook and Twitter . The AP article is based on a 19-page draft of the plan that the news service obtained.

“The new terror alerts would also be published online using Facebook and Twitter ‘when appropriate,’” the news agency reported, “but only after federal, state and local government leaders have already been notified.”

The new system is expected to be in place by April 27.

Zeus Kerravala, an analyst at Yankee Group Research, said the fact that the U.S. government is entrusting something as critical as terrorist alerts to Facebook and Twitter shows how important social networking sites have become to people’s lives.

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Mobile Panic Button Coming Soon

The U.S. State Department is putting its money where its mouth is, according to the Daily Mail. It is funding the creation of an application that will allow pro-democracy activists to delete all incriminating evidence on their mobile phones with a single click while sending out an alert to their fellow activists.

The “panic button” will send out a text message to everyone in the user’s address book, then erase both that address book and the phone’s call history. This will be an important tool, given how thoroughly governments go through dissident’s communications devices as a matter of course these days.

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Amex Debuts Mobile Payment System

American Express has just debuted a digital payment and commerce service that makes it possible to use Android-based devices and Apple iPhones for person-to-person online payments. Visa announced a similar personal payment product in the U.S. on March 16.

Analysts say the moves by Visa and American Express are clearly aimed at challenging PayPal in the personal payments business.

The new Amex service, named Serve, allows consumers and small businesses to make purchases and person-to-person payments on iOS- and Android-based devices. Serve accounts are also accessible on personal computers through Facebook and at Serve.com.

Serve also allows users to create and manage sub-accounts for friends and family members.

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Google Launches Online Magazine

Google has decided to launch its own quarterly online magazine, Think Quarterly, out of its centers in the U.K. and Ireland, saying that “in a world of accelerating change, we all need to take time to reflect.”

The first issue of Think Quarterly is already freely available online and is focuses on data, including data obesity, data impotence, data overload and open data.

“Think Quarterly is a unique communications tool that brings together some of the world’s leading minds to discuss the big issues facing businesses today,” the magazine says on its Twitter bio.

The magazine’s Twitter feed says it launched on March 21, though there is no mention of the magazine on Google’s blog, Twitter feed, Facebook page or newsroom.

In a note on the magazine’s website, the managing director of Google’s U.K. & Ireland Operations, Matt Brittin, said, “Think Quarterly is a breathing space in a busy world. It’s a place to take time out and consider what’s happening and why it matters.”

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Goo.gl Link Spreading Malware via Twitter

As if we don’t have enough to worry about when it comes to potential attacks of all kinds. First there were reports about the social media site Facebook and its highly infected news feeds now there appears to be yet another mischief seeking internet fiend sending out infected Goo.gl links via Twitter. Users are being warned not to click these suspicious links as they might direct you to malicious sites.

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