Despite the security concerns that have plagued Facebook for years, most people are sticking around and new members keep on joining. This has led Facebook to break records numbers with over one billion monthly active users as of October 2012—and around 600 million active daily users.
We share our lives on Facebook. We share our birthdays and our anniversaries. We share our vacation plans and locations. We share the births of our sons and the deaths of our fathers. We share our most cherished moments and our most painful thoughts. We divulge every aspect of our lives. We even clamor to see the latest versions even before they're ready for primetime.
But we sometimes forget who's watching.
We use Facebook as a tool to connect, but there are those people who use that connectivity for malicious purposes. We reveal what others can use against us. They know when we're not home and for how long we're gone. They know the answers to our security questions. People can practically steal our identities—and that's just with the visible information we purposely give away through our public Facebook profile.
The scariest part is that as we get more comfortable with advances in technology, we actually become more susceptible to hacking. As if we haven't already done enough to aid hackers in their quest for our data by sharing publicly, those in the know can get into our emails and Facebook accounts to steal every other part of our lives that we intended to keep away from prying eyes.
In fact, you don't even have to be a professional hacker to get into someone's Facebook account.
It can be as easy as running Firesheep on your computer for a few minutes. In fact, Facebook actually allows people to get into someone else's Facebook account without knowing their password. All you have to do is choose three friends to send a code to. You type in the three codes, and voilà—you're into the account. It's as easy as that.
In this article I'll show you these, and a couple other ways that hackers (and even regular folks) can hack into someone's Facebook account. But don't worry, I'll also show you how to prevent it from happening to you.
Method 1: Reset the Password
The easiest way to "hack" into someone's Facebook is through resetting the password. This could be easier done by people who are friends with the person they're trying to hack.
The first step would be to get your friend's Facebook email login. If you don't already know it, try looking on their Facebook page in the Contact Info section.
Next, click on Forgotten your password? and type in the victim's email. Their account should come up. Click This is my account.
It will ask if you would like to reset the password via the victim's emails. This doesn't help, so press No longer have access to these?
It will now ask How can we reach you? Type in an email that you have that also isn't linked to any other Facebook account.
It will now ask you a question. If you're close friends with the victim, that's great. If you don't know too much about them, make an educated guess. If you figure it out, you can change the password. Now you have to wait 24 hours to login to their account.
If you don't figure out the question, you can click on Recover your account with help from friends. This allows you to choose between three and five friends.
It will send them passwords, which you may ask them for, and then type into the next page. You can either create three to five fake Facebook accounts and add your friend (especially if they just add anyone), or you can choose three to five close friends of yours that would be willing to give you the password.
How to Protect Yourself
Use an email address specifically for your Facebook and don't put that email address on your profile.
When choosing a security question and answer, make it difficult. Make it so that no one can figure it out by simply going through your Facebook. No pet names, no anniversaries—not even third grade teacher's names. It's as easy as looki
I've been using the next version of Android for some months now - Android 6.0 (Marshmallow) - or to put it more correctly, I've been using various iterations of the Android M developer preview. After three developer versions though we’ve finally made it to the final release and we even have shiny new hardware to run it on, in the form of the Nexus 5X. Although as a write it's also available on the Nexus 5, Nexus 6 and Nexus 9.
A new version of Android used to be welcomed with great jubilation, but as with iOS it’s now pretty mature and the changes in each new version become less revolutionary and more incremental. Not that there’s nothi
Android Lollipop isn't a baby anymore – it's been around for almost a year. And, now that we have the benefit of hindsight, has it been a success or will it be remembered as a bit of a dud in the development of Google's Android operating system?
Up-to-date Nexus devices now run Android 5.1.1, which has had a few tweaks that address some of the things people really hated about Android Lollipop when version 5.0 first arrived back in 2014. Doesn't time fly in the tech world?
Everyone was expecting Key Lime Pie to serve as the delicious moniker for the next version of Android. Google surprised us all by bucking tradition and releasing Android 4.4 under the name KitKat.
Version 4.0 started life as Ice Cream Sandwich, but the last three decimal additions came under theJelly Bean banner. This new version was obviously deemed different enough to snag a new nickname, but not different enough to merit a jump to version 5.0.
It's no longer the latest version of Android, however, with Android 5.0 Lollipop recently coming out. It hasn't reached a huge amount of smartphones at the moment, so there's still a good chance that your Android device is rocking Android 4.4 KitKat.
If you'd like to find out when (or if) your device is getting updated to Android 5.0 Lollipop, check out our guide on when you can expect to see the upgrade.
But back to Android 4.4 KitKat; don't be fooled, this is an important step up for Android. KitKat is super-smooth, the UI is refined and elegant, there are improvements to the long-neglected calling and messaging side of the platform, a new focus on productivity, and your fortune-telling digital assistant is brought front and centre as Google Now reaches maturity.
The good The Sony SmartWatch 3 has built-in GPS to track your workout without needing your phone. It's waterproof, has a built-in USB port for charging without a dock and runs Android Wear smoothly.
The bad Its screen is pretty awful, with poor colours and viewing angles. Its plain, square design makes it much less stylish than the LG G Watch R and it doesn't have a heart-rate monitor built in.
The bottom line Although its ability to use GPS to track your run is handy, its poor screen, uninspiring design and lack of a heart-rate monitor means the SmartWatch 3 doesn't impress over its more luxurious Android Wear competitors.
CNET REVIEW
Sony's previous efforts at making a smartwatch haven't exactly been successes. In fact, the SmartWatch 2 was pretty awful. Seemingly keen to learn from its mistakes, however, Sony is back with a third generation of its computerised wristwear, unsurprisingly named the SmartWatch 3.
The SmartWatch 3 has an improved design -- including better waterproofing and interchangeable straps -- and crucially, Sony has ditched its clunky and unpleasant custom interface.
It now runs Android Wear, the smartwatch software developed by Google that aims to provide a unified platform for companies like Sony, Samsung, LG and Motorola to load on to their products and allow developers to create apps that can run equally well across all devices.
The SmartWatch 3 is on sale now and costs £190 in the UK, direct from Sony, $250 in the US also from Sony, and AU$315 in Australia from Expansys.
Design and display
Instead of opting for a more traditional circular watch face, like the LG G Watch R , the SmartWatch 3 has a square face. Together with the rubber strap, which meets the glass of the display, this makes it look much more like a fitness device than a regular watch. It certainly doesn't have the same luxury charm as the metal and leather G Watch R.
The good Beautifully constructed. Handles messages well. A solid fitness tracker. Hundreds of apps. Can send and receive voice calls via an iPhone. Lots of design choices. Apple Pay-enabled. Stores music for local playback over Bluetooth.
The bad Battery only lasts a little more than a day. Most models and configurations cost more than they should. Requires an iPhone to work. Interface can be confusing. Many apps load slowly. Lacks built-in GPS.
The bottom line A year old and even more affordable, the Apple Watch remains the best designed and most capable smartwatch you can buy -- but we're hoping that the inevitable sequel makes it more of a must-have product.
CNET REVIEW
I'm up early to try to kickstart a habit at the gym, trying to teach myself to like the routine. My phone and wallet and car keys get in the way; I like to come here as minimalist as possible. My watch is the only thing that feels natural and it's comforting to start recording an elliptical workout from my wrist. I still find it hard to keep glancing at my wrist as I exercise.
But this is the dream: a little world on my wrist.
I look at it for the weather; I look at it to peek at how the Mets are doing. I have it thump me to remind me where the exit is as I'm driving. I think to myself, "At least I'm connected." But isn't that why I have my phone? Yes. The Apple Watch is another security blanket. The Apple Watch and the iPhone act as a pair. I can ping and find out where my iPhone is through the watch, and I feel more hooked-in to what I need.
After a year, I don't look at my phone any less. In fact, I might look at it more.
Same watch, new bands.
James Martin/CNET
Apple Watch, one year later
All the time people ask me if they need the Apple Watch.
Short answer: I say no -- wait for the inevitable sequel.
Longer answer: I say that, in a lot of different ways, the Apple Watch can do things for me that I like. That it represents a taste of a future we're all rapidly heading toward.
