The social networking site has fixed a bug that could have allowed attackers to users' full names and photos, and to verify email addresses. Facebook has fixed a bug that could have been abused by someone looking to get their hands on the full names and photos of users.
Atul Agarwal of Secfence Technologies posted information about the issue to the Full Disclosure mailing list 11 August. If someone entered a user’s email address and the wrong password in the login page, the site coughed up the user’s full name and profile picture in addition to an incorrect password message.
“Some time back, I noticed a strange problem with Facebook, I had accidentally entered wrong password in Facebook, and it showed my first and last name with profile picture, along with the password incorrect message,” Agarwal wrote. “I thought that the fact that it was showing the name had something to do with cookies stored, so I tried other email IDs, and it was the same. I wondered over the possibilities, and wrote a POC tool to test it.”
The problem could have been exploited for social engineering purposes by phishers, or used to verify random email addresses by checking them against Facebook, Agarwal added.

Bug Fixed

In a statement, a Facebook spokesperson said the bug has been fixed, and added that the site’s policy prohibits anyone from scraping it for information.
“We have technical systems in place to prevent people’s names and profile photos from showing to unrelated users upon login, but a recently introduced bug temporarily prevented these from working as intended,” according to the spokesperson. “We remedied the situation swiftly.”
Earlier this year, Facebook revamped its privacy controls in response to criticism, and recently moved to extend those controls to users of the mobile version of the site.

By now, you're no stranger to Internet scams — from those that promise free iPads, to those that want to hack into your Twitter account — but with over 500 million users (and growing), Facebook seems to be a ripe breeding ground for scams and sneaky info heists.

The latest scam to attack the social network isn't a new one, but lately it's having a bit of a resurgence — called Profile Spy, this Facebook application says it can tell you who's been looking at your profile, but really, if you allow the application to install, you'll be releasing your info to strangers and you may even lose some money. Find out how after the jump.

After confirming that you want Profile Spy to install on your profile through a series of screens, you're asked to complete a few surveys and sign up for a mobile service that costs $20 a month. If you complete the install, you'll compromise your information (since apps can not only pull your info, but your friends' info as well), and may end up losing $20 a month in the process. Needless to say, you should be cautious about which apps and games you install on your profile, and check and update your privacy settings often in order to stay safe. Have more questions about your Facebook privacy controls? Check out this informative page.