At least one in every five adults secretly snooped on their friends, romantic partners, and family members' Facebook accounts, with reasons ranging from curiosity to jealousy, a new survey found.
Researchers from the University of British Columbia in Canada conducted a survey to 1,308 adult Facebook users from the US about their behavior on social media.
They found that 24 percent of the participants identified their selves with the statement "I have used a device of someone I know to access their Facebook account without permission." While 21 percent described themselves as victims and identified with the statement "Somebody I know has used my device to access my Facebook account without permission."
"Its clearly a widespread practice. Facebook private messages, pictures or videos are easy targets when the account owner is already logged on and has left their computer or mobile open for viewing," Wali Ahmed Usmani, a computer science graduate student from UBC, said.
The study also found that snooping was commonly done through mobile phones and among younger people. Moreover, it noted that as the age of the participants increased, the likelihood of snooping decreases. However, such relationship was not seen between age and being a victim of such attacks.
The practice ranges from insignificant "frapes," in which accounts are hacked just to post some silly status or photos or change birthdays, to even darker ones such as jealousy and ill will.
"Jealous snoops generally plan their action and focus on personal messages, accessing the account for 15 minutes or longer," Ivan Beschastnikh, a computer science professor, said, adding that the consequences are sometimes dire and could sometimes result to end of relationships.
While these attacks are common, researchers found a serious emotional consequence for the victim, BT News noted. The results also reflected the ineffectiveness of passwords and device PINs from preventing unauthorized access of accounts.
"There's no single best defense - though a combination of changing passwords regularly, logging out of your account and other security practices can definitely help," Professor Kosta Beznosov pointed.