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Facebook 'Stalker' Tool Uses Graph Search For Data Mining

Posted by Soulskill on from the at-least-somebody-finds-it-useful dept.

angry tapir writes "Mining small details from Facebook has become even easier with Graph Search, the site's new search engine that returns personalized results from natural-language queries. Graph Search granularly mines Facebook's vast user data: where people have visited, what they like and if they share those same preferences with their friends. 'FBStalker' is a Python script debuted at the Hack in the Box security conference in Kuala Lumpur. In its current form, FBStalker runs in the Chrome browser on OS X, entering queries into Facebook's Graph Search and pulling data. Even if a person's profile is locked down to strangers, their friends' open profiles can be examined, giving an indication, for example, who the person may be close with. FBStalker uses Graph Search to find photos in which two people are tagged in, comments on profiles and more."

7 of 38 comments (clear)

  1. isn't this like the n:th bot for querying it? by gl4ss · · Score: 2

    I mean seriously how many times can you flog the subject.

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    world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
  2. Re:Spear phishing by barlevg · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Probably should take computers away from your tech-novice parents, grandparents, children and cats as well (though why you gave your cat a computer in the first place is beyond me). The point of the article is not that spear phishing is new, it's that Graph Search makes it much easier to find a squishy target for your spear.

  3. Has a friend posted a picture of you? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    If any friends took a snapshot of you and tagged you with your name, you're in the Matrix.

  4. Re:What if one has no FB ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    Yes it's called a shadow profile I believe. They collect information about you based on your friends posts and they store it for when you're finally ready to sign up for their great service! http://www.digitaltrends.com/social-media/what-exactly-is-a-facebook-shadow-profile/

  5. Re:What if one has no FB ? by gl4ss · · Score: 3, Informative

    If I remember well, I had to optout of some new google feature, 3-4 years ago or so, related to what is g+ now.
    Maybe you didn't.

    google has pushed g+ a lot.

    if you're not on g+, then there's a lot of ways you can join by one clicking by accident. iirc gtalk was turned into g+ too. if you have a youtube account then you're on g+ now("upgrade account" click).

    if you're not seeing g+ spam on gdrive and gmail then you might want to check again if you already have a g+ account.

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    world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
  6. a bit from the article that caught my eye by way2trivial · · Score: 2

    ""It's basically not feasible for a human to go to the depths that FBStalker script does," he said."

    Pfft-- I beg to differ...

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  7. Already said... by just_another_sean · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Already said a million times or more but *this* is why I am not on Facebook.

    Oh wait, I probably am and just don't know it thanks to my "friends". So I guess what I should have said is "this is why I hate Facebook"!

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