If the best minds in our military intelligence community can’t spot a very obvious fake Facebook page, do you think you can do any better?

The Washington Times recently exposed how a security consultant created a fake Facebook page for a pretty but non-existent young woman called Robin Page, who claimed she was a “cyber threat analyst” with the military.

It didn’t take long – a month to be exact – for Robin to amass more than 300 willing friends, many of them high ranking military types who definitely should have known better. Especially considering that the creator of the fake page left some very obvious clues to make them suspicious.

One of those deliberate clues was her age. While she listed her age at 25, she also claimed that she had been working in the cyber security field for 10 years, suggesting that she started her top secret career at age 15.

The goal of the security expert who ran this short experiment in the new “social security” was to prove how easy it can be to dupe the people we rely on to protect us. I’d say he made the point very well.

What surprised me most was that anyone was surprised. Our intelligence community is made up of real people, who, in spite of their training, act like real people sometimes. And who could resist a pretty face with a killer resume who wants nothing more than to be your “friend.”

If Mata Hari was able to pull it off more than a century ago, shouldn’t be so difficult today.

To me, the message is clear. Don’t avoid Facebook, just avoid Facebook mistakes.

Lessons learned?

• Security isn’t just someone else’s business. It’s not just your bank’s responsibility, or your credit card provider’s responsibility or even just the Government’s responsibility. Take some personal responsibility for your own corner of cyberspace too.
• So many cons are still based on social engineering – simply exploiting natural human failings. The best technology to protect against those kinds of attacks is located right between your ears.

Fictitious femme fatale fooled cybersecurity

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/jul/18/fictitious-femme-fatale-fooled-cybersecurity/

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1. Saving Facebook: Perspectives on New Privacy Policies
2. WARNING: Facebook Scam
3. In the Headlines: Facebook “PLEASE SEND ME MONEY” Scams on the Rise
4. IN THE HEADLINES: Fake Security Software Has Better Support Than the Real Thing!
5. IN THE HEADLINES: Your Top 10 Social Networking Risks