Security expert breaks into TV star's Facebook account

 

Gallery

By Stuart Turton

Posted on 19 Mar 2010 at 15:37

A security expert has highlighted the dangers of Facebook by hacking a television presenter's account and projecting his personal pictures onto an advertising billboard.

Graham Cluley is Sophos's senior technology consultant and was invited by the ITV Tonight programme to see what it could uncover about presenter Jonathan Maitland.

Cluley began by trying to befriend Maitland on Facebook using his own name, but when he was ignored he turned to LinkedIn to see what other valuable information he could glean about the presenter.

Maitland left with a dossier full of print outs of his private emails, and a strong reminder to change all of his online passwords

"I discovered a company that Maitland was involved with, and a list of some of his fellow workers," wrote Cluley on his blog.

"I noticed that at least one of them (who had been recently promoted, so presumably was well-regarded) wasn't currently friends with Maitland on Facebook. So, I created a fake Facebook account using that individual's name and using a picture I found on the net," he concluded.

Cluley promptly fired off a friend request to Maitland and was accepted. "For many identity thieves this would have been enough. It would have been possible to send a malicious link to my intended victim, contact his friends or scoop up personal information from my prey's profile," he wrote.

However, the security researcher had also discovered from online biographies that Maitland was a fan of Charlton Athletic football club.

Using this information, he correctly guessed Maitland's Facebook password, giving him unrestricted access to the account.

When the cameras rolled the production team borrowed a digital advertising board at Liverpool Street Station and projected images of Maitland, his pet dog and his band to bemused commuters.

"Maitland left with a dossier full of print outs of his private emails, and a strong reminder to change all of his online passwords," said Cluley.