The number of complaints regarding hacking of ‘face book’ accounts of Lankans had increased, Sri Lanka Computer Emergency Response Team (SLCERT) Senior Information Security Engineer, Rohana Palliyaguru said.
Palliyaguru said that SLCERT had received a large number of complaints regarding illegal acts carried out by persons using the Face Book daily. More than 100 complaints had been received in January and more than 1,800 last year (2011).
Though there were other social networks such as My Space and Twitter, Face Book was the most popular among Sri Lankans. The majority of complaints were regarding fake Face Book accounts and made by persons using others’ information without their knowledge. Those fake accounts, once created, were later used to carry out various abusive activities, Palliyaguru noted.
According to internetworldstats.com. currently more than 1,182,720 Sri Lankans are active members of face book. It represents a 5.6 percent penetration level in the country’s more than 21 million estimated population. More than 1,776,900 Sri Lankans use internet which represents 8.3 percent of penetration.
The Senior Information Security Engineer said that SLCERT had deactivated most of the fake Face Book accounts after clarifying the identification of those persons. "If the victims decide to take legal action, we direct them to the CID." In addition to that he said other complaints were regarding hacking passwords. Some tend to hack others’ passwords and try to extort money.
In Sri Lanka, if a Face Book account is hacked, it is a violation of the Computer Crimes Act of 2006. Creating fake accounts and hacking are clear violations of the Face Book usage terms. According to US jurisdiction, one cannot demand to take any content out of a website such as Face Book without a court order.
Courtesy - The Island By Maheesha Mudugamuwa
