Facebook Hacker Jailed Amid Rape Claims
The case of a woman misusing Faceboook to back up rape charges should prompt people to protect their passwords, say security experts
A woman has been jailed for three months for breaking into the Facebook account of her ex-boyfriend, who she had accused of rape.
According to a report in The Daily Telegraph, Zoe Williams, 23, of Chard, Somerset broke into her then-boyfriend’s Facebook account as a result of what she believed was inaction on the part of the police over her rape claim.
A Wicked Act
Williams, who is now married to another man and has a young child, apparently broke into her then-partner’s email account and sent herself a threatening message, demanding that she stopped pursuing rape allegations, the Crown court in Taunton heard.
The Facebook message was discovered when Police seized William’s computer and proved she had authored the message supposedly sent by her then-partner.
The Telegraph reported Judge Graham Hume Jones saying: “What you did was particularly wicked. People have to realise that however strong their feelings may be, they must not interfere with a court of justice and make false allegations.”
Sarah Palin Facebook Hack
Commenting on the case, security expert Graham Cluley said that it should act as a reminder to everyone to make sure they change their passwords regularly and kept them secret. “Make sure that you refresh your memory about sensible password security – that means never sharing your passwords with others and not making them easy to crack or guess,” he said.
Last month in the US, the son of a Democratic Tennessee lawmaker was convicted for hacking the email account of former Alaska governor Sarah Palin during the 2008 presidential campaign.
Herbert “Hugh” Thompson, chief security strategist for People Security and professor in the Computer Science department at Columbia University in New York warned recently that criminals are launching “innovative” attacks based on the information which people share online.
“People are posting indiscrimently – they throw weird information out there. What has happened is there has been a growth in the technology for information sharing but not a comensarate education in what information we should share,” he said at the RSA Conference Europe event in October.
