Facebook Fires 'Stalker' Engineer

Facebook has fired an engineer accused of misusing private data to 'stalk' women online. He is thought to be a security engineer who abused his 'privileged access' level to data.

One of the engineer's alleged victims was the founder of a cyber security company. She's made public the conversation she had with the Facebook engineer, in which the man talks about being a security analyst. He wrote: "... I also try to figure out who hackers are in real life... [so, I'm a] professional stalker."

It appears the pair were conversing after being connected through the dating app Tinder. To make sure users of the app are who they say they are, Tinder users must sign up using their Facebook account.

Victim Gets Tip-Off

The woman who raised the issue says she was told by an anonymous source that the man was "likely using privileged access to stalk women online." She says she independently confirmed this was the case as the man used the same photo for his Tinder account and LinkedIn, a business networking site.

The reference to 'privileged access' has a specific meaning in an information technology context. It's roughly equivalent to having an elevated security clearance and thus being able to access data that ordinary employees can't see.

Facebook Launching Own Dating Site

Alex Stamos, the head of security at Facebook, said:

"It's important that people's information is kept secure and private when they use Facebook. It's why we have strict policy controls and technical restrictions so employees only access the data they need to do their jobs - for example to fix bugs, manage customer support issues or respond to valid legal requests. Employees who abuse these controls will be fired." (Source: pcmag.com)

The incident has particularly ironic timing. Earlier this week Facebook announced it will be launching its own online dating service aimed at producing longer-lasting relationships. The idea is to use Facebook's data to match people based not only on their responses to a questionnaire but also on common interests expressed on Facebook and whether people have friends in common. (Source: businessinsider.com)

What's Your Opinion?

Does Facebook deserve praise or criticism for the incident and the way it's handled it? Should companies more tightly vet employees who have high levels of access to customer data? Or is the threat of instant dismissal the only way to minimize the risks?