Personal details of millions of Facebook users leaked online in a massive data breach
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It’s another day and Facebook has been hit with another breach. According to a report published by security researchers, the latest data breach has leaked the personal details of over 267 million Facebook users. The personal details include Names, phone numbers and Facebook user IDs.
Facebook users have been urged to update their contact details as soon as possible. The latest data breach sounds more like carelessness on Facebook’s part as the company left a database containing personal information unsecured on the web for nearly two weeks. The breach was uncovered by security researcher Bob Diachenko along with Comparitech, who discovered an unsecured Elasticsearch database containing the user information.
A database this big is likely to be used for phishing and spam, particularly via SMS. Facebook users should be on the lookout for suspicious text messages. Even if the sender knows your name or some basic information about you, be skeptical of any unsolicited messages.
– Bob Diachenko
He also noted that the affected users are mainly from the US especially those who had public profiles. After uncovering the database, the team at Comparitech alerted the ISP about the mistake and it was later taken down. However, they said the database was up for about two weeks before it was taken down.
This isn’t the first time Facebook has been accused of being negligent of the private data. We do recommend users to take a look at their personal information and update them accordingly. One easy yet effective way to stay safe is by setting up 2-factor authentication to block unauthorized access to Facebook.
