What Are the Dangers of Facebook Hacking?

If you use Facebook's private message application on a regular basis, you may have a quantity of personal information that you don't want shared. While the information on your Facebook profile is mostly public, a hacker could check your inbox and find confidential messages and even account passwords or other sensitive information, depending on what you save in the inbox. If desired, the hacker could post your private information on your wall for everyone to see.

When someone hacks your Facebook account, he has the ability to change your password. Once he does so, he can use your account at will, and you won't have any success trying to log on to stop him. This can be a frustrating experience and you probably won't be able to do anything to prevent it until you report it to Facebook and a Facebook administrator investigates the issue.

Once a hacker has access to your account, he can send messages pretending to be you to your friends. These messages can be crude, threatening or otherwise unsuitable, which will initially make your friends think you're upset. The hacker can also post unsuitable images on your account to embarrass you or make others report you for breaking Facebook's terms of use.

Occasionally, your Facebook account may be compromised due to malware, spyware or phishing. When this occurs, a malicious individual or company may use your account to spam all your friends' accounts with wall postings, private messages or both. Some of these messages may even contain viruses, which could severely affect your friends' computers. Additionally, if a friend believes it's you behind the spamming, she may report you to Facebook.