IU Doctoral Students Uncover Glitch in Facebook’s Security

A team of Indiana University doctoral students is responsible for finding a glitch in Facebook's security protocol.

http://indianapublicmedia.org/news/iu-doctoral-students-uncover-glitch-facebooks-security/

By Claire Wiseman
February 7, 2011

A team of Indiana University doctoral students is responsible for finding a glitch in Facebook’s security protocol. Rui Wang and Zhou Li, who research systems security at the School of Informatics, discovered that a vulnerability in Facebook’s platform code allowed private information like phone numbers to become accessible to bogus third party websites.

Wong said the team simulated a hacker’s behavior in order to discover the site’s vulnerability. For Lee, their research was an opportunity to make a lasting impact.

“I’m not sure, but I think most Americans live on Facebook, so if one day they found when they get up their information lost to some other guys and their words posted with some garbage information, then I think there might be some very serious problems,” said Lee.

Wang and Lee created a video demonstrating the problem and posted it online. Facebook officials saw it and responded with a fix.

Now accepting applications for the Santosh Jain scholarship

The University Graduate School is pleased to announce we are offering a new award, the Santosh Jain Endowed Memorial Scholarship. This award is for the Bloomington campus only.

The Santosh Jain scholarship honors the memory of the spouse of Chaman Jain, a senior lecturer in SPEA. Santosh Jain was well known among international graduate students. She was born in Lahore, India, which is now part of Pakistan. She first came to the United States from New Delhi, India, in 1970 with her husband and their two small children in order for Chaman Jain to attend graduate school at IU. Throughout the years, she supported her family as they pursued higher education, and was passionate about serving her community and promoting education. She was a founding member of the India Society of Bloomington, a group dedicated to assisting impoverished women and children in India. She was also well known in the graduate student community for her culinary skills.

The scholarship offers financial support to a current international graduate student who has demonstrated commitment to service and education and plans to pursue a service-oriented career and demonstrates financial need. The recipient will possess a track record of service to underserved or rural communities, humanitarian causes, or educational organizations in activities that support an improvement in the lives and opportunities to those in impoverished communities. Preference will be given to graduate students from South Asia, in particular those hailing from India, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Sikkim.

The application deadline for students is Friday, March 4, 2011, and March 18, 2011, for departments.

Application materials and details:
http://www.indiana.edu/~grdschl/pdf/Santosh_Jain.pdf

The press release on this award:
http://newsinfo.iu.edu/news/page/normal/14023.html

Contact Yvonne Dwigans if you have any questions.

Yvonne Dwigans
Administrative Assistant & Fellowships Coordinator
Indiana University Graduate School
Kirkwood Hall, Room 114
130 S. Woodlawn Ave.
Bloomington, IN 47405
812-855-8852 (office)
812-855-4266 (fax)
http://www.graduate.indiana.edu