Experts warn of data misuse after student site hacking

“The incident shows that one should consider where one divulges data, particularly on the internet,” he told daily Berliner Zeitung. “Data available online and used by a number of people is difficult to protect from misuse,” he added, emphasising that this was not the first case of customer data misuse due to such a situation.

Information from up to one million underage users of the popular social networking site was stolen by at least two hackers and made available for download on an internet forum, the company announced over the weekend.

The German Association for Information Technology, Telecommunications and New Media (BITKOM) also warned parents and students to protect their personal information online.

“The highest level of security must be ensured for data protection of children and youth on online networks. It should enjoy the highest priority,” BITKOM head Bernhard Rohleder told the paper, adding that parents should pay attention to what their children do on the internet.