Bogus Facebook page sparks Nato security alert

THE head of the world’s most powerful military alliance was the subject of a security scare after a bogus Facebook account was set up in his name, it emerged yesterday.

The profile of Admiral James Stavridis, Nato’s supreme allied commander, duped several officers and officials into believing it was genuine, after they accepted friend requests on the social networking site. However, the account was not authorised by Adm Stavridis, giving rise to fears that the personal information of those who joined his network may have fallen into the wrong hands.

There are suspicions that the ploy originated in China, where hackers have been able to gain access to the likes of the secure computer network used by the House of Commons.

Senior Nato staff became aware of the fake account late last year, and had it deleted.

Adm Stavridis, who was in charge of recent operations in Libya, does have a Facebook profile, but it does not contain any confidential information.

A spokesman for the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe said: “This type of compromising attempt is called social engineering and has nothing to do with hacking or espionage.”