A hacker forum has been discovered that is selling 1.5 billion Facebook users personal information
A hacker forum has been discovered that is selling 1.5 billion Facebook users personal information
In the past few days, Facebook Inc has been through a lot. The company's social media platforms - WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, and the other products in its ecosystem, including Oculus - were unavailable for the majority of the day as a result of a global service outage, according to the company.
Additionally, it has been revealed that personal data from over 1.5 billion Facebook users has been discovered for sale on a hacker forum, which could put the company in legal hot water.
It has been discovered that users' personal information has been listed for sale on a hacker forum according to Privacy Affairs, a privacy research firm. A source claims that the data being offered for sale was obtained by scraping publicly available data shared by Facebook users.
Bots obtain publicly available data such as full names, email addresses, phone numbers, locations and genders by submitting quizzes or tests. Scraping is a technique in which bots obtain publicly available data such as full names, email addresses, phone numbers, locations and genders by submitting quizzes or tests.
However, even though the information obtained was already publicly available, it can be used to compromise the security of the users. Attackers can use it to obtain password challenge responses, intercept one-time login codes, send phishing emails, and send scam text messages with this tool.
Privacy Affairs founder and CEO Miklos Zoltan explained that when someone participates in one of these surveys or quizzes, they are granting the creators of these games access to their personal Facebook information as well as other information. It's a dangerously simple way to put one's personal information at risk.
According to Miklos Zoltan, founder and CEO of Privacy Affairs, if the data exposed in this leak is authenticated, it "could constitute one of the largest and most significant Facebook data dumps to date."
Because the post has been taken down, the likelihood of this particular set of data being exploited has been reduced, according to a Facebook spokesperson, who stated that the company had sent a takedown request to the social media platform. However, it is unclear whether or not the post will be re-posted somewhere else.
What you can do to keep yourself from becoming a victim
Because scraping necessitates the availability of data, Facebook users should avoid making their profiles publicly visible. Moreover, it's a good idea to be familiar with Facebook privacy checks in order to ensure that no piece of personal data is overlooked.
Apart from that, it is essential to refrain from participating in Facebook quizzes and granting app permissions that ask for personal information. When conducting surveys and quizzes, only reputable sources should be used.
Although it may be too late to lock your account if your information has already been scraped, you can lock your account now to prevent future information theft.
