Miscellaneous 2 min. read

Year-Long Facebook Bug Exposes Six Million Users’ Information

Year-Long Facebook Bug Exposes Six Million Users’ Information

Last Friday, Facebook issued an apology about a bug in its system that unintentionally exposed phone numbers, email addresses and other private information of six million Facebook users without their knowledge or consent.

According to the Telegraph, 200,000 users in the UK were affected. The Facebook Security team detected the year-long bug and fixed it within 24 hours.

Facebook warned their users that the data might have leaked through the Download Your Information tool, which allows users to download an archive of their Facebook account. If a person downloaded an archive of all their activity, they may have been provided additional contact information of their contacts or with whom they have some connection with. Because of the data leak, a massive number of Facebook users were infuriated and demanded to know to whom their information was given.

According to the statement, Facebook said, “We currently have no evidence that this bug has been exploited maliciously and we have not received complaints from users or seen anomalous behavior on the tool or site to suggest wrongdoing”. Facebook assured affected users that their information was only shared with one or two people that they know and will make sure that another data leak like this will not happen again. The social network has been in the process of notifying all affected users via email.

Whether you have been affected by the Facebook leak or not, you should be careful about sharing any sensitive information on the internet. To reduce the risks of cybercrime caused by similar data security breaches, make sure to use Hotspot Shield and check out these few tips that you can use to protect your personal information.

 

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