Facebook—it's a site users love to hate. Who hasn't seen status updates by their Facebook friends ragging on the very site they use to spread their hate mail.
U.K.-based security company Sophos on Monday took a step back and published an open letter to Facebook on its blog, Naked Security. Written by blogger and security analyst Graham Cluley, the letter outlines three fundamental steps that the company needs to take to better protect its users. It is signed "Naked Security" and thus is presumed to reflect the beliefs of the entire Sophos blogging team.
In the letter, Naked Security wags his finger at Facebook's opt-in privacy schemes, lack of vetted app developers (where many phishing scams originate), and a secure connection (HTTPS) standard that's turned off by default.
The letter states that Naked Security readers are "desperate for advice on how to deal with the consequences" when information from their Facebook accounts have been compromised. "A frequent refrain from users who contact us is, 'Why doesn't Facebook do more to protect us?'" he wrote.
The blog acts as Sophos' platform for sharing advice, opinions, research and news related to Internet and IT security. In the past, the blog has reported on and offered insight into various phishing scams and other fraudulent activities that pervade the online social network.
Toward the end of the brief letter, Naked Security suggests that it's only a matter of time before Facebook will be legally accountable for better protecting its users, and that it would be seen as a more ethical organization if it took more serious measures to protect users prior to the law requiring it.