Twitter 'porn star name game' risks identity theft: privacy experts
Last Updated: Thursday, May 14, 2009 | 12:09 PM ET
CBC News
Twitter users are being warned that playing the new "porn star name game" on the popular social messaging service could expose them to identity theft.
The game involves forming a fictional porn star name for yourself by combining different names from your past — the name of your first pet and the name of the first street you lived on, for example.
A blog posting by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada this week says "maybe the hilarity of introducing yourself as 'Sasha Johnson Mount Royal' to the entire online world isn't worth the chuckle after all."
The problem is that those names are often used in security questions to access online email services and online banking sites.
"Is it any wonder that phishers encouraged everyone on Twitter to take part in the fun?" reads the commissioner's blog.
IT security firm Sophos also warned against twittering your porn star name, suggesting hackers could use the information to get access to your email accounts.
"Think that's unlikely?" Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos, blogged this week.
"Well, the likes of Sarah Palin, Paris Hilton and Salma Hayek have all had their private email accounts broken into by hackers after they guessed their so-called 'secret answers.'"
