To conduct the research Sophos created a fake Facebook profile and sent out 200 random friends request using the profile name "Freddi Staur" (an anagram of "ID Fraudster") to see how many people would respond and how much personal information they could gather.

"It's extremely alarming how easy it was to get users to accept Freddi. Eighty-seven users accepted Freddi, and of those, 82 provided their personal information in the process," said Ron O'Brien, senior security analyst at Boston-based Sophos.

"While it's unlikely this will result directly in theft, it provides many of the essential elements needed to gain access to people's personal accounts. Additionally, it reveals specific user interests, enabling hackers to design targeted malware or phishing emails that they know the user is more likely to open."

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