Facebook users easy targets for identity theft

via MacWorld:

Facebook users were all too willing to disclose the names of spouses and partners, with some even sending complete resumes. One facebook user divulging his other’s maiden name—the old standard used by many financial and other Web sites to get access to account information.

Most people wouldn’t give this kind of information out to people on the street but their guard sometimes seems to drop in the context of a friend request on the Facebook site, O’Brien says.

Here again, consumer education is a vital preventative measure. But so is corporate responsibility and stiffer penalties for identity thieves