India : IT security and control firm Sophos has reminded computer users of properly protecting themselves while online after news broke that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has had his Facebook page hacked.

An unknown hacker broke into the 26-year-old internet celebrity’s Facebook account and posted a bizarre message calling upon the firm to adopt a social cause:

“Let the hacking begin: If Facebook needs money, instead of going to the banks, why doesn’t Facebook let its users invest in Facebook in a social way? Why not transform Facebook into a ‘social business’ the way Nobel Prize winner Muhammad Yunus described it? [LINK] What do you think? #hackercup2011”

More than 1800 people “liked” the update before Facebook took down their CEO’s page.  Facebook has made no public statement about how the hack occurred, possibly to save their CEO from embarrassment.

Sophos has created a YouTube video, showing the hack, which the media is welcome to use for TV shows, and/or embed on websites: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4djYIOZ6Qc

Zuckerberg’s Facebook hack comes just days after French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s Facebook account was also breached.

“Facebook users – famous or not – need to take better care of their social networking security,” said Graham Cluley, Senior Technology Consultant at Sophos. “Mark Zuckerberg might be wanting to take a close look at his privacy and security settings after this embarrassing breach.  It’s not clear if he was careless with his password, was phished, or sat down in a Starbucks and got sidejacked while using an unencrypted wireless network, but however it happened, it’s left egg on his face just when Facebook wants to reassure users that it takes security and privacy seriously. Maybe Mr Zuckerberg would be wise to get a refresher on computer security best practice.”

Sophos has published more information, including screenshots, on its Naked Security site at: http://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2011/01/26/facebooks-zuckerberg-in-fan-page-hack/