Facebook Hacked -No personal data compromised

Facebook announced on Friday that it been the target of a series of attacks by an unidentified hacker group, but it had found no evidence that user data was compromised. 

"Last month, Facebook security discovered that our systems had been targeted in a sophisticated attack," the company said in a blog post. "The attack occurred when a handful of employees visited a mobile developer website that was compromised." The social network, which says it has more than one billion active users worldwide, added: "Facebook was not alone in this attack. It is clear that others were attacked and infiltrated recently as well." Facebook's announcement follows recent cyber attacks on other prominent websites. Twitter, the microblogging social network, said this month that it had been hacked, and that approximately 250,000 user accounts were potentially compromised, with attackers gaining access to information including user names and email addresses. Newspaper websites including The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal have also been infiltrated, according to the news organizations ( although those attacks were attributed by the news organizations to Chinese hackers targeting their coverage of China).

Two questions rise from the news above. The first one is if these attacks really left the personal data of the users untouched. Without the will to be conspirator, if the data had been compromised, would the companies announce it openly? A statement that leads to the second question: is the personal data safe under the possesion of the social media companies and in what level are these companies truly responsible for the personal data of the users? 

Although these questions lead to a very long conversation, the issue is that companies like Facebook will always be the targets of suck attacks since they represent a full database of the attributes, wills, likes, dislikes, trends and personal info of every person registered. 

Facebook 'Timeline'

A new improvement has been revealed by Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Facebook at the f8 conference in San Francisco. 

What is the improvement? The personal profile itself. Facebook profile has been looking like the last day of your life. Visual Facts only refered to your actions one or two days before or even a week. But now Facebook profile looks like more of a blog, showing a catalogue of your Facebook activity so far (starting at 2008!). This profile will list all of your apps, all of your stories, all your links... it will be a complete list of your Facebook activity.

Nostalgia on Facebook or an act of self defence? We all know that Google Plus has been released publicly and it is rumored to de-throne Facebook from the king of social networks. The last few days we constantly see changes in the profile, user interface and even if we go back in time a little bit we see new functions on Facebook (like the videochat). It surely looks like the battle between Facebook and Google+ will be a tremendous one.

Facebook timeline will be available soon. For more information see this: http://www.facebook.com/about/timeline

Anonymous vs. Facebook

'Anonymous', the famous hacker team that has infiltrated networks such us govermnet and police systems, have made an announcement that is discussed worldwide: An attack on Facebook.

To be more precise, in their video they indicate that Facebook collects data from every user and sells this information to institutes like governments, policing orginizations and companies. So, in an effort to protect the world from Facebook they have declared war by launching the so called 'FacebookOp' and stated that Facebook will fall on the 5th of November 2011.

Sources report that this message might also be a scam. Others claim that it is real. Ambiguous as the message might may be, we have to wait until the November 5th to find out.

Here is the video released by Anonymous

Facebook Videochat vs Google Hangouts

As predicted ahead of its time (see here), Facebook has teamed up with Skype for a videochat tool. In this way Facebook offers its 750 million of users a new way to communicate with each other by adding a new weapon to its arsenal. But let us examine the real intentions of Facebook regarding the timing of this implementation.

Facebook administration has input this feature days ago. The question is; why now? this feature has been rumored many times in the past. Well, I think the answer is obvious. 'Google Hangouts'. Google hangouts is the tool in the new social network, Google Plus. Google Plus more or less contains the elements of Facebook, StumbleUpon, some Twitter elements and also posseses videocall function. It is true on the other hand that Facebook has remained stagnant for quite some time. As a result, it is natural for Facebok to feel threatened by Google's new project (Facebooks performance has already started to decline in countries such as France).

But, is this Videocall feature enough to face Google Hangouts?

Well, in my opinion, no. Facebook has added a videocall feature which is very similar to the IM. A single button has been added (just like the picture above) and the videocall begins. This videocall contains simple things: it is a two persons only videocall and the interface is a mixture of Facebook and Skype. On the other hand, with Google Hangouts more people can co-exist in a videocall, more functions are available (such as youtube video projection), stratightforward call option keys (in case you want to mute microphone/speakers etc). In a way, Google Hangouts is (or said to be, since Google+ is on a testing stage yet) a more 'cared-for' interface with more functions, more flexibility and a more attractive-to-user environment.

With the main, basic characteristics of the call being almost the same, Google Plus beats Facebook videochat due to the better environment that it offers. Facebook videocall is not bad if you want to have a conversation with a person, on the contrary it is quite simple and straightforward. But, the thing is that hangouts' layout has been more attractive to the user (or even just to me, personally).

For more info on Google hangouts, check this: GooglePlus : RIP Existing Social Networks??

Facebook

I dont think that a blog that reviews technology and stuff would have a better way to begin than the obvious:

Facebook (www.facebook.com)

Ok you all know a big deal about facebook. So I am not going to deepen into the basics of facebook and how-it-works stuff.

But is it efficient as what it introduces itself -a Social Media Network-?

We must admit that it was Facebook that really introduced the idea of Social Networking to community. Facebook is a great way to keep friends close, to share experiences, news, photos, videos, internet links etc as well as to meet new people, play games, even make money according to some.

Facebook has a great mechanism of interacting with its members. It keeps your contacts listed and you can always see your friend's status, his/her news and not only that but you can interact with these things by adding comments, 'Like' signs etc. Personally I keep a facebook account and I must say that I stay close with some of the people I have met in my life through facebook. It also helps me stay in touch with my closer friends and even have fun through either wall-to-wall conversations or Games. In general, facebook appears to be what it claims to be- the leader of social networks.

Is that all? I think not. Everything in this life has a bright as well as a dark side. By being the leader of social networking, I am afraid that if not used properly (as an Internet site that should help you keep in touch) it promotes isolation, even through all this interaction. Yes, I am going to be another person stating that 'people become more isolated by the use of Internet Social Networks'. But isn't that true? Lets all calculate how much time we spend on Facebook. How many of us have Facebook as a home page on our browser? How many of us when they have nothing to do they log in to facebook? The results of these calculations will be discouraging I m afraid.

What I am trying to say is that by using facebook for communication we have been isolated in our home, in front of our computer and since by using Social networks to communicate is so easy, we do not bother go for a walk, meet people in the real world. All the commmunication we get is through facebook. It is even sadder when young children instead of meeting with their friends, play games, excercise, interact in the live world, their only wish (after school for example) is to log in to facebook to communicate.

To end up, Facebook has a lot of pros and cons. Communication, when achieved so easily and in such an enertaining way is cherishable. But in my opinion, the 'real' isolation that has come to be promoted with the false use of facebook is the largest factor to be taken into consideration.

P.S. I know some of you will ask me 'why you keep your account since you believe all the above regarding the false use of facebook'? It is true that deleting your facebook account is not easy. Social Networks and Facebook have become a great part of our life. So it is not easy to cancel your account because by doing so you are about to face a world with less communication. And the reason for this fear that everyone has is a subject that is not compatible with the purpose of this blog...