Facebook’s history of handling users personal data is nothing short of disgusting. Following the massive data leak concerning the Cambridge Analytica scandal in 2016, the social media giant has been trying to do more to protect user data.
However, on Saturday, a massive database containing millions of personal data belonging to Facebook users was leaked online. The exposed database was dumped online for free included information on over 533 million Facebook users across 106 countries.
The data included in the database included users’ full names, Facebook IDs, phone numbers, location, birth dates, and bios. In certain cases, even email addresses were available for hackers to add to their phishing list.
A company spokesperson confirmed the legitimacy of the data. Furthermore, the company claimed the data was scrapped due to a Facebook vulnerability that was patched in August 2019.
Even years after patching the flaw, the resultant consequences continue to plague the company’s reputation. Even worse, repercussions of Facebook’s previous privacy laxity will ensue for years to come for affected users.
Last year, another database containing over 419 million numbers of Facebook users was leaked online. The company confirmed the leakage, but Facebook also pegged this to the earlier vulnerability. In this particular incident, Facebook said there was “no evidence that Facebook accounts were compromised.”
In January, a Telegram bot emerged that claimed to have data on 500 million Facebook users and was selling each for a price. The same was also courtesy of the said patched flaw.
But with the new dump, hackers don’t need to pay for anything. The database is available for free.
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