Two weeks ago there was a massive hack on Facebook user data where as many as 50 million users may have been impacted.
Facebook’s engineering team discovered a security issue where attackers exploited a vulnerability in Facebook’s code regarding the “View As” feature on the 25th of September. The feature allows people to see what their own profile looks like from someone else’s perspective and attackers used this feature to steal access tokens, the digital equivalent of a key that keeps you logged into your account.
Since making the discovery, Facebook engineers have fixed the vulnerability, secured the site, and informed the relevant law enforcement agencies, but the breach still compromised the personal information of millions of users. This includes information like phone numbers, email addresses, birth dates, searches, location check-ins, and what kinds of devices are used to log in to the site.
With Facebook still trying to recover from the Cambridge Analytica scandal, this new breach is another major knock to its reputation. More and more users are becoming disillusioned with the social media platform’s ability to protect their personal data.
In an update on its investigation into the incident, Facebook states that it has invalidated the access tokens of almost 90 million accounts that may have been impacted. This should not have an effect on passwords, but if you are experiencing problems while logging in, you can go here.
To check if your data has been affected, check here.
By Daniëlle Kruger
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