“Facebook hacking” usually doesn’t mean a remote attacker actually broke into your account to wreak havoc left, right, and center. Among the users of the social network, the term really just means you forgot to logout of your Facebook account, and your friends took advantage by posting (usually embarrassing) status updates. If this is the type of thing that tickles your fancy, then Hack My Facebook is for you.
Here’s how it works: you log into your Facebook account and choose from several fake status updates from these categories: Go Romney!, Go Obama!, Valentine’s Day, Sports Traitor, Stupid Lyrics, It’s Your Birthday, Drop Out, It’s A Girl. Don’t worry, the messages don’t include swearing, racist language, or sexual references. Once you’re happy with your choices, you let the site post to your Facebook Timeline, and watch as your friends freak out.
Once you’re done messing around, you can click on the “UnHack Your Facebook” button to return your Timeline to its previous state. You can also delete the posts manually at any time, if you decide things are getting out of hand.
Hack My Facebook was built from scratch at the 48-hour hackathon PennApps this past weekend (320 students participated in the student-run hackathon). The app was created by University of Michigan students: 20-year-old Raj Vir, 19-year-old Shiva Kilaru, and 19-year-old David Fontenot. After 38 hours of coding (10 hours were dedicated to sleeping), the trio won a $500 prize from AddThis, according to Time.
The three young developers actually started a site called BuddyHack that hacked into their friends’ Facebook accounts and posted silly status updates. After receiving 400 unique visitors per minute, Facebook shut down BuddyHack 30 minutes before the group was to demo, citing violations of its Terms of Service, so they tweaked it and Hack My Facebook was born.
Image credit: stock.xchng
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