AT&T claims they have fixed a problem on their mobile network that placed misdirected Facebook account cookies on the wrong user’s mobile devices.
Mobile users on the AT&T network who experienced the problem reported that when they visited the Facebook social network, they were instantly logged into other people’s Facebook accounts and had to all of the other person’s Facebook account information.
Last weekend, an AP news story reported that a mother and her two daughters in Atlanta, GA all received access to other people’s Facebook accounts when they recently visited the social network from their mobile devices on the AT&T network.
AT&T later confirmed that network server problems caused the Facebook security glitch. AT&T’s investigation revealed that the problem involved “misdirected cookies” that were placed on the wrong user’s mobile device.
AT&T has implemented new security fixes on their mobile network that they claim will stop a repeat of the server problem.
AT&T worked with Facebook to disable user ID information as an option for automatic log-in on the mobile network.
Again, we can only imagine the Verizon ads that could be produced attacking this AT&T security debacle.
[ Source: The Register ]