Study reveals that many Facebook users aren't doing enough to protect their online identity

Study: Facebook users willingly give out data [CNET News]

An Australian security firm has released results of a study that may indicate Facebook users are far too trusting with personal information on the social networking site. Sophos created two fake Facebook profiles and then began offering their Facebook friendship to randomly selected Facebook users. Of the users contacted, 41 to 46 percent offered their friendship in return to the fake profiles. From there, researchers determined that 89 percent of the users made personal details like email addresses, date of birth, and place of work freely available to their new "friends." Such information could be used to commit identity theft.

While younger Facebook users shared personal details very liberally, according to Sophos, even many older Facebook users made personal details available on their profile page that would be appealing to an identity thief. Sophos and Facebook recommend caution when accepting Facebook friend requests from people you don't know. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg also recently blogged about using Facebook's privacy tools to protect sensitive personal information from prying eyes.