ALERT: There Is Not A Hacker Door In Your Facebook Friends List

Right now there is a rumor spreading around Facebook about there being a new security vulnerability in Facebook accounts and it’s absolutely inaccurate. Information similar to this was spread previously in something called the “Automation Labs bug“. In both instances the rumor was absolutely false.

Here’s what the message says that’s being spread around Facebook:

… found…. Hacker in door in our friends list!….We are now listed as friends of ourselves! You need to delete yourself from your friends list to close the door to hackers. To do this … Go to Account, go to edit friends, there search for your name on the list and click …the X to get your name removed

Essentially someone has found a strange bug: when you search through your friends list, you show up as a friend of yourself. Even if you “delete” yourself as a friend, you’ll continue to show up as a friend once you refresh the page. The one thing that users need to know is that their accounts have not been compromised in any way. Rather than blindly participating in the rumor spreading, let your friends know that this information is completely false.

Want to keep up to date on all Facebook security threats as well as news and tips? Become a fan of AllFacebook now by liking our Facebook Page below!

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1405769 Comments2010-05-03+19%3A24%3A34Nick+O%27Neill »

this glitch seems to of appeared when facebook altered and ruined peoples profiles , as an admin of several groups i now find it a lot more difficult to keep tabs on what people are posting on my groups , as a result i have decided to close down the groups i admin and am seriously considering de activating my account , if it aint broke dont fix it !!!

Comment by c atkinson — May 3, 2010 @ 12:01 pm
thank you so much for clearing this up i hope this was sent to all the facebookers so there is no worry!!!

Comment by kristeen hicks — May 3, 2010 @ 12:09 pm
All right so it's not a bug, however WHY are we on our friends list to begin with?

Comment by Lou Ann — May 3, 2010 @ 12:17 pm
there always seems to be something wrong on facebook. i am so tired of all the garbage that i have had since i connected to facebook. my computer is constantly having problems. i know it's not the computer because it is new. it's only since i have added facebook that it started.

Comment by s tufts — May 3, 2010 @ 12:20 pm
if this is not true then why do I appear in my own friends list, and why cant I delete myself???

Comment by Sharon Meicke — May 3, 2010 @ 12:24 pm
Since the facebook crash in March, nothing has worked as it should, yet facebook continues to deny "issues", "bugs", or "problems". I have had to quit many apps – not because I wanted to, but because of facebook "fixing" things that didn't need fixing!

I would certainly like to believe what the FB admins say, but I do not. They refuse to address problems – which are numerous – so in essence they are saying they don't believe us. Therefore I do not believe them. The issues, bugs and problems are being kept as a log on a group page which was started strictly for that reason. "Facebook issues are horse-hockey"… check it out and join, listing YOUR issues.

Comment by Joni Hall — May 3, 2010 @ 12:24 pm
It's deeply concerning to me that whenever facebook rolls out broad changes, that the errors abound so pervasively. From what I can glean, there seem to be *database* errors — wherever there's an association between an entity and a piece of data, it seems vulnerable. Posts disappear. Publishing errors about when posting notes, tagging people, you name it. Does it always have to be this way?

Comment by Mariana Evica — May 3, 2010 @ 12:33 pm
WHY IS MY COMMENT AWAITING MODERATION, WHEN OTHERS POSTED AFTER IT ARE VISIBLE? BECAUSE I CHOOSE TO BLAME FACEBOOK FOR THE PROBLEMS WE ARE HAVING?

Comment by Joni Hall — May 3, 2010 @ 12:35 pm
the problem is that there is a lot of glitches and faults in facebook anyway so then you want to charge us for using it as well,well why don't you charge more for those that advertise on it and catch up and charge those that do advertise freely like john frearson?

Comment by terry edwards — May 3, 2010 @ 12:36 pm
If this is a rumor, then please tell us, why did it happen, why is it not being fixed and why are you allowing our privacy to be open to the world? You gave us a place to feel safe, to let our children have a safe place to communicate and now, anyone can get into our account unless we find things like this and change the settings, delete things etc.

Don't YOU have the responsibility to advise when changes are made to our accounts???????????????????

Comment by Laura D'Uva — May 3, 2010 @ 12:39 pm
i have been trying to c where to send a not to facebook, i hope this is safe, about a monnth ago i got a notice stating that i needed to reenter my password because i had something about honduras on my alert it also said to change passwork and make sure it always says home , does this sound ok i did re enter a new password and havent had any problems please let me know thank you worried

Comment by marielena — May 3, 2010 @ 12:39 pm
Kristeen, the problem is that facebook just does things and does not advise or update it's users about what they are doing or why. By the way, who is Nick O'Neill, the author of this "alert"? He is an UNOFFICIAL blog author. What is the source of his insight?

From his own blog: "Facebook’s former Chief Privacy Officer, Chris Kelly, made a public statement against Facebook’s new “Instant Personalization” service, days after the program came under attack from a number of Senators. In a public statement, Chris Kelly distanced himself from Facebook saying, “Facebook’s recent changes to its privacy policy and practices with regard to data sharing occurred after I left the company.”

While Facebook has yet to take any significant public stance suggesting that the company will back away from the new program, the company is under increasing pressure. As others have suggested, Chris Kelly stated that the opt-out system is inappropriate. More specifically, Kelly said, “I strongly encourage Facebook to structure all its programs to allow Facebook users to give permission before their information is shared with third parties”.

Ironically, Chris Kelly served as Chief Privacy Officer at Facebook during the company’s Beacon fiasco. In contrast to Facebook, Kelly is positioning himself as having learned from the Beacon failure. Whether or not Facebook will back track on the new program is unknown, however having one of the company’s former employees (and head privacy advocate) speaking out against the program does not fare well for Facebook."

Comment by Bill Hipple — May 3, 2010 @ 12:41 pm
If in fact this is a rumour then why did i become a friend of my self. Glitchs are becoming more frequent and i always check other sits than seemed to actually have details and info like ip addresses of theses links. i have reported to you after a link i had suffered, which others i know on fb have suffered to saying we have made comments on people on our friends list with out allowing access to your info.. i found my name and have never asked to be a friend of myself. If this is not a bad link or hacker why would anyone do this even the most needy people would ask to be friends woth themselves as they normally don;t like the people they are ???????????

Comment by zoe clarke — May 3, 2010 @ 12:42 pm
Why would be your own friend thats insane and would put anyone on alert!!!!!!!

Comment by roberta ardis — May 3, 2010 @ 12:44 pm
As A result of the changes you have made, you have recently lifted some privacy restrictions on how outside developers handle Facebook data. Previously they could only retain said data for 24 hours, now they can hold on to the data as long as they like. Facebook used to prompt users before sharing data with a partner site, but it will no longer do so for "special" partners like Yelp, Pandora and Microsoft. Also, some Facebook sharing that needed two or three pop-up dialogs to authorize now require just one.

The changes are even riskier than they appear. Now that non-Facebook websites are allowed to hoard Facebook user data, said sites will become inviting targets for hackers. And it's our Facebook data the hackers will be after. Of course, you have to worry about more than just computer crackers, since there's not much enforcement over how even authorized Facebook developers use the data they collect. If they want to mislead you and misappropriate your data, they can — and given the track record of Facebook's partners, they just might. If that happens, have fun suing for your privacy back.

Comment by Keith Grindley — May 3, 2010 @ 12:45 pm
I'm so over with facebook always changing everything… but the last change is Very Insulting to me. Now all of my interest have been destroyed and mixed up by facebook… the music interest is the most affected of all … some of my favorites(and most important) artists have gone missing… I have a lot of friends in the music industry and I joined there group to support them… now they appear in my interests… why can't they stay in groups ??? I don't have interest in them musically but now it say that I do … I want to remove all interest and most groups and pages… I actually want do deactivate my whole profile.

If it's not broke, don't fix it… Now this last change needs serious fixing !

Comment by Francis Des Ruisseau — May 3, 2010 @ 12:46 pm
ok what we are doing there?Listing like friend???

And why we have so much problem whit facebook ??????

Comment by LINDA — May 3, 2010 @ 12:49 pm
We had a nice group of about 300 people and it has disappeared since I was on it Friday and it was gone Saturday. Facebook does not seem to want to cooperate in getting this group back up and running. As one of the Admins of this group I am very concerned that Facebook is trying to do too much of a "good" thing and ruining the "product" in the process. Bigger is not always better.

You can't blame people for being concerned when we are hit with all sorts of new "developments" that confuse and cause "bugs" that were never there before. We want our group back and have tracked down the URL link. Any suggestions?

Comment by Donna Kelly — May 3, 2010 @ 12:54 pm
Amazing. People will complain about anything. The site is FREE. No one is FORCING you to divulge personal information. It's your choice. As far as updates, I'm impressed with FB's execution of them. To be able to handle millions of users, update the code and not impact even a fraction of the members, I'd say that's a pretty good track record!

Comment by R — May 3, 2010 @ 1:02 pm
Will someone reply as to why my comment has been deleted? Is it because I choose not to believe what Facebook admins have to say? That I try to be a voice for the friends I have who, like me, are (and have been) experiencing numerous, tedious issues that FB denies?

Comment by Joni Hall — May 3, 2010 @ 1:15 pm
with face book getting more 'big-brother-ish' on a daily basis, and being hugely more irritating and unfriendly than ever before, how does a bug like this happen, and why hasn't it been fixed yet.

There was a time when facebook worked well and satisfied, but then they went and 'fixed' it, and have been doing so ever since, and each time they do it gets a little worse!

Comment by sarah — May 3, 2010 @ 1:15 pm
IF THIS ISN'T A HACKER THAN WHY CAN'T I KEEP MY NAME DELETED FROM MY FRIEND LIST??????

Comment by Diane — May 3, 2010 @ 1:19 pm
please can you tell me why i am friends with myself then thankyou

Comment by stephen woodward — May 3, 2010 @ 1:23 pm
Why complain ? Its free, and who is not a friend to oneself ?

Comment by Kenneth — May 3, 2010 @ 1:25 pm
This is just a bullshit..!!!!!!!

after you have delite your self on your friend-list, it will come back imidiatly after refresh (F5)

Comment by Kjell — May 3, 2010 @ 1:27 pm
Does anyone know why we have to have ourselves as friend?

Comment by Bella — May 3, 2010 @ 1:35 pm
wish I could have seen your post Joni

Comment by PamelaJaye — May 3, 2010 @ 1:37 pm
Since this is an "unofficial facebook page" and I am assuming a comment or resource, which has not been approved by the administration of the "REAL" facebook, I find it hard to believe this is a reliable source. My name should not be in my list of friends, so there IS a problem.

Instead of warning people of being overly cautious, you should take the time to find out what HAS happened and FIX IT!!!

Comment by donna ashtiani — May 3, 2010 @ 1:42 pm
Why does my name appear on my friends list. It was not there before.

Comment by Nancy — May 3, 2010 @ 1:43 pm
I'd like to know what's going on…it appears that my own name is on my friend's list now, and I delete it and it reappears! Also, the information that I placed in my "info" area, ie favorite music, books, movies, etc. are all included on my friend's list as well….they don't belong there! What gives?

Comment by Sousonne — May 3, 2010 @ 1:46 pm
ALSO…Why is it SOOO hard to report something? I went through a ton of Q & A options for trouble shooting…there's NO place where you can actually report a problem….I guess they think they have them all covered…It shouldn't be so hard to find a place to report a problem or bug…Why can't they just leave things alone….or hire people who know what they're doing…

Comment by Sousonne — May 3, 2010 @ 1:48 pm
I never panicked.. I always wanted to be friends with myself and now you gave me the chance to do that.. So Thank You

Comment by Bobby Joe — May 3, 2010 @ 1:54 pm
Maybe it's time to alert advertisers about the incompitance of the facebook administrative staff!!! I think it's time to rethink employment!!!!

Comment by Cathy Bradford — May 3, 2010 @ 1:57 pm
If it is a rumor then why is my name on my friends list suddenly and why does it keep coming back on the list..

Comment by CRW — May 3, 2010 @ 1:58 pm
I never panicked.. I always wanted to be friends with myself Thank you for that..

Comment by Bobby Joe — May 3, 2010 @ 1:59 pm
I should not be be a friend of myself on my friend list!!! What is WRONG with FB!!! Maybe it is time to close down FB. I might do so and ask my friends to follow….

Comment by jeanette sogaard — May 3, 2010 @ 2:07 pm
I know Farmville has a lot of players…all the more reason

for who ever is in charge of that area of Facebook to get on the ball & get the errors & lag problems corrected! It is horrid when you waste so much time clicking on the gifts box and it keeps throwing up the Farm Co op box. You sit there haveing to close it over & over. When you click on gifts to send back to people it never shows is sent but, at bottom of page shows errors! Just one of many grips I have at the moment. Please get it right!

Comment by Jeanette Kennedy — May 3, 2010 @ 2:09 pm
I agree with you Bobby Joe, for a long time I never much liked myself but lately things have been a changing. So now I'm real glad to be my own friend…. lol

Comment by Helen Scott — May 3, 2010 @ 2:18 pm
My name keeps showing up on my Friends list. I X it out and delete, but it comes right back on again. ?????

Comment by Janet — May 3, 2010 @ 2:20 pm
WOULD LIKE TO KNOW HOW TO REMOVE MYSELF FROM MY FRIENDS LIST PLUZEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE O YEAH

Comment by HATTIE C PRIDGEN — May 3, 2010 @ 2:33 pm
Thanks for clearing that up. This has certainly started a panic. It's so frustrating that Facebook does not notify it's users when it's going to do something and of course trying to post a question in their help centre and get an answer from them, not it's users, is nigh on impossible! I have recommended this website to all my friends.

Comment by Ann Roberts — May 3, 2010 @ 2:36 pm
E como é que explica que agora não consigo comunicar com nenhum dos meus amigos nem tão pouco editar a lista dos amigos

Comment by Ana Oliveira — May 3, 2010 @ 2:41 pm
How about the Illusion video hacker? You click on the vid and it goes to EVERYONES page if they are on your friends lists. You ALSO have to change your password to erase the video too.

Comment by Scott Nordstrom — May 3, 2010 @ 2:49 pm
FOR A COUPLE OF REASONS I NO LONGER WISH TO BE FRIENDS WITH MYSELF!

Comment by BELINDA — May 3, 2010 @ 2:49 pm
OH for crying out loud people act like adults. If you don't like facebook and the way they do things or handle you information then Jesus just delete your account and go play someplace else. It's a glitch get over it facebook did not give hackers the key to your account get real and stop being so dang stupid everyone. This is like sooooo simple instead of sitting her whining and crying delete your account no one is forcing you to keep it,the choice always has been and always will be yours and yours alone, just delete the account…..SOOO SIIMPLE DUH!!!!! Not one person whining and crying has ever had to pay one dime for access to this social network site…. All the lies and rumors about fees to play on facebook are just that lies and rumors…. if you was paying you would have the right to complain but you are on this site free of charge when ever you want to so shut up and enjoy yourself or delete your account it isn't rocket science!

Comment by Lori G — May 3, 2010 @ 2:56 pm
My assumption would be that you being a friend of yourself is somehow necessary for Facebook to operate correctly; It may have always been this way, and has just become visible now due to some of the changes.

Why people would jump to the conclusion that this is a hack or a vulnerability is entirely beyond me, especially considering it has happened to every single user. On a popular site that is obviously and acutely concerned with the security of their, and your, information, a breach that widespread is nearly impossible and would certainly have been addressed immediately by the staff rather than by fear-mongering comments.

Also, commenters here should realize that this is a third-party site, and your comments are unlikely to be read by Facebook employees (at which many of them seem to be directed).

Comment by Derek N Selle — May 3, 2010 @ 2:58 pm
Hackers or not, Facebook makes Hogan's Goat look like precision machinery. One of my favorite pages, Constitutional Conservative, has disappeared along with its more than two hundred fans. When i turned FB on a minute ago, My Newsfeed showed briefly, and then took a nose-dive. I had to scroll down on the page to find it. Are you tryin to run users away?

Comment by Frank D Scott — May 3, 2010 @ 3:54 pm
Thank you so much for this info!

Comment by Donna Rudock — May 3, 2010 @ 4:13 pm
Thanks for the explanation…. we get so much stuff just for Marketing …. that have became suspicious of anything

Your explanations that's what we need… thanks again

Comment by Mina Pires — May 3, 2010 @ 4:33 pm
I'm not listed as friend of myself anyway, so the bug seems to affect only some people…?

Comment by Mario — May 3, 2010 @ 4:35 pm
Um, you know what, people? Why on Earth do you care if you're listed as your own friend? The article admits you are. So? The point is it *has no effect on your security.* And logically, why would it?

Comment by Jennifer — May 3, 2010 @ 5:53 pm
Explain this then please

1. My husband was not listed as a friend on his list of friends whereas I was.

2. I removed myself from my friends lost and have stayed removed.

3. Ths is inconsistant as mnay friends have reported removingthemselves and then keeping reappearing.

Something not right here.

Comment by Louise Lewis — May 3, 2010 @ 8:11 pm
Hi! A lot of warnings, a lot of problems with Facebook.

How is it with FB – security?? And tell us why our

names appear on our own friends list!! Hard to stop

a rumor when you don't explain. And Derek, everybody

that use Facebook is an expert!

Comment by Marianne Lindblom — May 3, 2010 @ 10:02 pm
I agree with the comment that we dont have to pay for this so why get so aggressive about those that operate facebook. We have to take some responsibility ourselves for what we put on there and what we allow our children to access. It seems to me that its all too easy to blame others these days and not take any responsibility ourselves.

Comment by Sally Burgess — May 3, 2010 @ 11:27 pm
i was wondering WHY you show up as ureself on ure friendlist? what purpuse is it? case this is new,i didnt c it before. i just wanna know why oh why i need myself as a friend on my list? i would appreciate an answer,thanks.

Comment by Isa — May 3, 2010 @ 11:39 pm
I have deleted myself from my friends list and the entry has not reappeared, even after refreshing and restarting. This contradicts the claims at the top of this page. Please clarify.

Comment by Jaap van Duin — May 4, 2010 @ 12:20 am
So this is not true? How come that I found myself in my list of friends? Just a glitch, you say, but it's strange that one of my facebook friends posted something on my wall, and when I asked him about it, he didn't know anything and he had never used that app! I think there IS something untoward happening here.

Comment by margaret — May 4, 2010 @ 12:55 am
Facebook have begun fixing this bug. People shall start to see themselves being removed from the list of their own friends. Panic over.

Comment by ThatsNonsense.com — May 4, 2010 @ 2:11 am
I deleted my name from my friends list yesterday and today IT IS NOT BACK. Why?

Comment by granpan — May 4, 2010 @ 2:34 am
Would all of you clowns claiming that you can't trust the story on this site because it is not an official Facebook mouthpiece feel better if you read it on Snopes instead? http://www.snopes.com/computer/internet/hackerdoo...

Also, I have a foolproof way to solve all the issues you are having with Facebook. DELETE YOUR ACCOUNT. No account == no problems. Guaranteed to work!

Comment by Skells — May 4, 2010 @ 4:30 am
if i am on my own friend list,why can i not delete,why is my friend not on her own list,is it only happening to a random number of people i dont understand,why not everybody.i play farmville and nothing gift wise seems coming to me is it all going to the other me on the list,whoever she or he is?

Comment by helen — May 4, 2010 @ 4:31 am
I think it's about time someone find a safer, stable interface that works better that FB, I've not been on very long, but for the technology available to us today, you'd think there'd be more competition out there!

Comment by teddie — May 4, 2010 @ 6:30 am
Can't a "glitch" in the PC world also lead to an "exploit".

It's just a thought, I mean at the end of the day this seems to be a random and non specific problem (meaning not everyone reports the same error, some can delete and its gone whilst some delete and it returns). As it is not a singular problem with an exact error repeating on all pages in the same way then how can anyone be 100% sure that it cant be exploited or indeed isnt some form of exploit.

Anyone care to comment (dont attack though, im not inferring or accusing anyone of anything after all, simply posing a thought).

Comment by Buddhaman — May 4, 2010 @ 7:13 am
Well I tried to delete myself from my friend list on multiple occasionas and it just kept reappearing…. no I do not want to remove my account as I use it to keep in touch with people across the globe… I contacted Facebook Privacy and they have now suspended my account for phishing activity!!!… I am also on day 2 of trying to get Facebook to send me the security code to my linked email address so I can clean my account and reactivate it…. alas, no one seems to be home!!!!!!! I have not received a response in any shape or form and no matter how many times I hit that damn 'resend code' button I have not received it once. Now, if someone wants to let me know whta the hell is going on and try to tell me it's not somekind of hack…. go ahead

Comment by Debbie — May 4, 2010 @ 9:33 am
FB presents far more problems than it does benefits.

The number of clients who will just take whatever FB dishes out–even when privacy settings are changed to reflect a less-secure setting level–is amazing and unsettling.

Are these privacy-infringement-tolerant clients the same ones who eagerly sign up for OnStar, ensuring that your location can be determined by others?

The worst, however, are the parents who put pictures of their young children online. Pervs are quite savvy with looking at details in a photo and then being able to determine at least the neighborhood where the child lives.

Comment by Morgaine — May 5, 2010 @ 10:25 am
I am being harassed by fake profiles and hacked into conversations with nowhere to now place a specific report since FB closed down the abuse mailbox……..PARENTS..does this sound like safety for your kids when the guy on the corner can pretend to be one of your kids friends???

Comment by KAK — May 7, 2010 @ 1:07 pm
I deleted myself when I first heard of it. I am still not in my friends list contrare to what this says.

Comment by Samuel — May 13, 2010 @ 12:59 pm
lol ive just been hacked on facebook , came through as an secrity email from facebook , i gave my email address and a fake password thought i would fool them . then my accounts gone , my friends see it as germis smizh ? and the name keeps changing ?
here people say facebooks safe' bullshit ' …
he didnt have my password ? i use zynga poker loads i had 14 million chips, i reported what happend to zenga they say they cant do anythink lollolool …w@@@@@s . also the guy whos taken over my account has all my personal details , i report it to facebook and 3 days later i still havent herd anything, pppffff facebook make it possoble for people to steal peoples identitys, as they do nothing about reports i have made, also my friends have reported the account every day till it say's you cant complain anymore lolololol . hes still running my account and nothink is being done … ok my fault for opening the email , but it looked real , fooled me …but how after 3 days can facebook still let the account be open,

Comment by marks — November 29, 2010 @ 1:39 pm
facebook.com/trenton.richard
this guy is a hacker. ( /trenton.richard)

he threatened my sister and she really sweet she never even squashes bugs

what a jerk! I think he's stalking my sister on facebook! help!@ =P

Comment by Elena Dagovic — December 29, 2010 @ 6:37 am