Would Facebook have been the victim of a data leak?
It was recently discovered, a personal database from Facebook whose access is completely free on the internet.
This database contains hundreds of millions of phone numbers and other personal information. According to the information received, this is personal data that leaked because of a security breach that was corrected in 2019. "These are old data that had already been leaked to the media in 2019. We found and repaired this problem in August 2019," a spokesman for the popular social network said at the time.
This article will also interest you: Facebook: a data leak exposes hundreds of millions of phone numbers
Specifically, the 533 million Facebook users who are affected by this huge data leak. The main data exposed are telephone numbers directly affiliated with the account of the individuals concerned. This situation highlights the amount of data collected by the American giant not to mention the vulnerabilities in computer security.
"Phone number, Facebook ID, full name, location, past place, date of birth, (sometimes) email address, account creation date, relationship status, biography. (Are the information in the database)
The wrong actors will certainly use the information for social engineering, scam, hacking and marketing. Alon Gal, the technical director of Hudson Rock, a cybercrime agency, explained on Twitter.
The database was discovered by the American online media, Business Insider. The information it contains comes from 106 countries according to the latter. It is believed to have been in circulation for several months. Then it was put back online on this hacker forum "raidsforum.com."
Unfortunately for Facebook's reputation this kind of disclosure is not a first. Already in 2018, the scandal linked political firm Cambridge Analytica has prompted Facebook to remove this feature that allows to find the Facebook profile of an acquaintance through his phone number, because millions of data have been used for user study.
Among the numbers in the database, "there is that of Mark Zuckerberg, himself in person.
As for the #FacebookLeak, out of the 533 million people in the leak – the irony is that Mark Zuckerberg is unfortunately also included in the leak.
If journalists are having trouble getting a statement from Facebook, maybe give it a call, such in the leak? 📞," walker jokes.
Once again, Facebook's reputation will suffer. On the Users' side, it is recommended that a set of ways to protect themselves be put in place so that cybercrime does not benefit from this new wave of free personal data that is circulating. Therefore, the activation of two-factor authentication is a necessity. We will also have to be reassured that we have not been hacked. If possible completely change the passwords used. In addition vigilance had been put on all sides.
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