Friday, May 25, 2012

HAS YOUR FACEBOOK ACCOUNT BEEN COMPROMISED?

.....by Tijjani Muhammad Musa





"What!!! No!" I exclaimed! "It can't be true!" Subhanallaah! I immediately started wondering what was going on. Is it possible for someone to worship 2 gods at the same time?

Ok, ok...  You see it's all about an update on Facebook I saw from someone I hold in high regards. Yes, it was a pornographic video posted by "him", well; it was posted from his account, thus carrying his full name. Already, disappointment comments were being posted by those who had seen it before me. I was tempted to add mine to it, but decided against it. So I wrote on his wall to find out if he was the one who posted such a shameful, ludicrous update. Alas! He was not the one! In fact he sounded hurt and embarrassed from his inbox reply to me. What really happened? His password has been compromised.

Another time I saw a serious illicit "photo of you" as the notification would alert one, when a female e-friend  of mine uploaded a picture and tagged me. Upon arriving at the scene, some were hailing her for being so bold, others were condemning her for being such a disgrace to her religion of Islam. So I waited to see her response, which did not come after some 30 minutes have gone by. My guess was she does not even know her reputation was being dragged in the gutters. By the time she realized what was going on, some friends have jumped to conclusion and commenced deleting her from their friends list. Again, another very exciting female status updater, got her FB account hacked and all sort of nonsense was being posted on her behalf. Though she found out early enough, there was nothing she could do as she watched helplessly while her closely guarded reputation was shattered beyond repairs. All advises to rescue her tarnished image failed to stop the damage. She had to go on a forced Fb leave from the devastation.

Then there was another guy, he is on my friends list, but we hardly ever comment on each others updates or posts. I got acquainted with him from seeing his posts on my News Feed. Now, one time I was using my laptop and modem and out of nowhere, out pops a too familiar greeting of "Hey! Been looking for you" from him to initiate a chat between us. I was like "Wow! Is this guy serious? Are we that friendly or maybe he's mistaken me for someone else?" I answered back the greeting with a platonically "hi, u mistaken me for someone". And "he" quickly replied with something like "How u, watz up? Wanna have some fun?" I almost burst out laughing, but asked back "Who's this pls?" "Never mind. I fink u cool" was his response. Now that sounds like a female response to me or may be someone who's gay but drunk or high or something like that.

So I checked the chatter's names again, a Muslim name and all of a sudden it dawn on me what was going on. Its a hacker's activity. Therefore I posted "This is not your account. You are so so fake" :-) hehehehehe! Back came his reply "The only thing that's fake about this chat is you. U r bloody wastin my time! F**k u!" I stared at the screen for a moment, then decided to visit the guy's wall and see his other updates. And believe me, others have visited as well and were threatening to remove him from their list, some expressing their dismay. The real guy was there percifying, apologizing, pleading and begging people for the crisis on-going. I just posted my experience and left.



Finally, I saw another respected friend of mine post a horoscope and zodiac update a few days back. I said so, so-so is into Zodiacs or Horoscopes! I excused the person and moved on. Again I saw another post of similar import from the same person and once more overlooked it. Then again just yesterday I saw another update in line with the 2 others. So I said something is amiss here.  How can someone swear allegiance to Allaah and His Rasool via his or her search for knowledge n appreciation of same the way this person is and still be doing stars prediction thing. Two complete opposites. So I decide to contact the person via inbox. And thank God, I did! Ya Allaah!

The person had been offered an app and to get it, a condition states that you have to agree to let them have access into you FB account and they can even post an update on your behalf. Upon accepting that term, your account could then be accessed by these hackers and then all sort of thing can be done with your account carrying you name!

What is one to do about it? I really don't know! How can one undo that? All I can say is you have to keep constant vigil and ALWAYS DELETE ANYTHING Posted on your behalf or on your wall as long as it is not you, or it conflicts with your character, personal principles or IMAN! If you are so affected, go through your wall or timeline and sanitize it thoroughly by deleting all their posts promptly.

Also, NEVER EVER Permit anyone to offer you something or an apps, who places a condition that they can have access to your account or post anything on your behalf. You know, they often offer to show you an interesting photo, video, application e.g. who or how many or how often someone or people have visited your profile to check you out. Once you click "AGREE" or "ACCEPT" and stuffs like that, they do this sort of thing to your profile, hack your account and thereby tarnish your image.

For friends, please do give your friend the benefit of doubt. It just might happen to a friend, like it did to mine. They posted a pornographic video of Rihanna or her look-alike to some of his closest friends, I inclusive, using his FB account. It was most embarrassing, to say the least.

Meanwhile, to y'all who have had this kind of experience, just be cautious about following links the offers free, exciting or sensational apps. Be yourself, remain alert and vigilant, ok? You wouldn't wanna loose your dear e-friend... especially for no fault of yours or theirs, would you?

(c)(r)2012 - Tijjani Muhammad Musa
A SWSComms Doc.

No comments:

Post a Comment