By Raphael Satter
4/3/2021
© Reuters/Dado Ruvic The Facebook logo and binary cyber codes are seen in this illustration
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A leaker says they are offering information on more than 500 million Facebook Inc users - including phone numbers and other data - virtually for free.
The database appears to be the same set of Facebook-linked telephone numbers that has been circulating in hacker circles since January and whose existence was first reported by tech publication Motherboard, according to Alon Gal, co-founder of Israeli cybercrime intelligence firm Hudson Rock.
Reuters was not immediately able to vet the information, which is being offered for a few euros' worth of digital credit on a well-known site for low-level hackers, but Gal said on Saturday that he had verified the authenticity of at least some of the data by comparing it against phone numbers of people he knew. Other journalists say they have also been able to match known phone numbers to the details in the data dump.
In a statement, Facebook said that the data was "very old" and related to an issue that it had fixed in August 2019.
An attempt by Reuters to reach the leaker over the messaging service Telegram was not immediately successful.
Gal told Reuters that Facebook users should be alert to "social engineering attacks" by people who may have obtained their phone numbers or other private data in the coming months.
News of the latest leak https://www.businessinsider.com/stolen-data-of-533-million-facebook-users-leaked-online-2021-4 was first reported by Business Insider.
(Reporting by Raphael Satter in Washington; Additional reporting by Sabahatjahan Contractor in Bengaluru; Editing by Matthew Lewis and Daniel Wallis)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A leaker says they are offering information on more than 500 million Facebook Inc users - including phone numbers and other data - virtually for free.
The database appears to be the same set of Facebook-linked telephone numbers that has been circulating in hacker circles since January and whose existence was first reported by tech publication Motherboard, according to Alon Gal, co-founder of Israeli cybercrime intelligence firm Hudson Rock.
Reuters was not immediately able to vet the information, which is being offered for a few euros' worth of digital credit on a well-known site for low-level hackers, but Gal said on Saturday that he had verified the authenticity of at least some of the data by comparing it against phone numbers of people he knew. Other journalists say they have also been able to match known phone numbers to the details in the data dump.
In a statement, Facebook said that the data was "very old" and related to an issue that it had fixed in August 2019.
An attempt by Reuters to reach the leaker over the messaging service Telegram was not immediately successful.
Gal told Reuters that Facebook users should be alert to "social engineering attacks" by people who may have obtained their phone numbers or other private data in the coming months.
News of the latest leak https://www.businessinsider.com/stolen-data-of-533-million-facebook-users-leaked-online-2021-4 was first reported by Business Insider.
(Reporting by Raphael Satter in Washington; Additional reporting by Sabahatjahan Contractor in Bengaluru; Editing by Matthew Lewis and Daniel Wallis)
Facebook’s response to Saturday’s news of a huge data leak was so awful
Andy Meek BGR
Andy Meek BGR
4/3/2021
© Provided by BGR Facebook data leak
Monday was already shaping up to be a lively news day for tech journalists. That’s when the next episode of Sway, the podcast from The New York Times’ Kara Swisher, will be available to listen to, with the new interview subject being none other than Apple CEO Tim Cook.
Swisher on Friday teased via Twitter that the conversation with Cook will cover everything from the App Store drama around Parler to the iPhone maker’s feud with Facebook — the latter of which, on Saturday, inadvertently handed Cook even more ammunition to use against the social networking giant as he continues making his case that Facebook is awful. In case you haven’t heard by now, there’s been another huge Facebook data leak, encompassing personal information from more than 533 million Facebook users from 106 countries. This data was posted in a hacking forum, according to a report from Insider, which is to say — if you have a Facebook account, there’s a good chance your data has once again been exposed to hackers including everything from your phone number to your email address, birthday, full name, and more.
Monday was already shaping up to be a lively news day for tech journalists. That’s when the next episode of Sway, the podcast from The New York Times’ Kara Swisher, will be available to listen to, with the new interview subject being none other than Apple CEO Tim Cook.
Swisher on Friday teased via Twitter that the conversation with Cook will cover everything from the App Store drama around Parler to the iPhone maker’s feud with Facebook — the latter of which, on Saturday, inadvertently handed Cook even more ammunition to use against the social networking giant as he continues making his case that Facebook is awful. In case you haven’t heard by now, there’s been another huge Facebook data leak, encompassing personal information from more than 533 million Facebook users from 106 countries. This data was posted in a hacking forum, according to a report from Insider, which is to say — if you have a Facebook account, there’s a good chance your data has once again been exposed to hackers including everything from your phone number to your email address, birthday, full name, and more.
One of the big dangers with a leak like this is that hackers and other malicious actors can use this information to try to access your Facebook account, and frankly any other accounts, now that they have an abundance of information about you. They can try to reset your password, for example, and use that to cause all sorts of other mischief.
On Twitter, Facebook spokesperson Liz Bourgeois responded to a handful of news articles and posts about this leak by tweeting the same two-sentence statement: “This is old data that was previously reported on in 2019. We found and fixed this issue in August 2019.”
In other words, Facebook is responsible for a few hundred million users having their data leaked yet again (seriously, how many times is this now?), but don’t worry, it’s fine — they fixed the problem a long time ago. Not that this does anything to help un-leak the data that’s now in hackers hands, but, hey, Facebook did its part!
This is old data that was previously reported on in 2019. We found and fixed this issue in August 2019.
— Liz Bourgeois (@Liz_Shepherd) April 3, 2021
Naturally, many people have found that response to be monumentally unsatisfactory.
“Fixed it how?” someone tweeted in response. “Clearly the data is still out there.”
“How do I change my date of birth?” reads another response.
Also, “I’ve had the same email for a decade. Love this dismissive responses.”
And: “You’re head of Communications for @Facebook and this is your response!? How about “we’re deeply sorry for your data being exposed for a second time. Please contact our CS team and we’ll help you restore and protect your account.” Just try harder!”
Needless to say, this is all going to help shine an even bigger light on anything Cook says about Facebook during what promises to be a long and in-depth interview with Swisher on Monday. Here are some of the Facebook-related comments from Cook that Swisher has already shared from the upcoming interview:
“All we’re doing, Kara, is giving the user the choice whether to be tracked or not,” Cook says at one point during the podcast, a reference to the iOS changes that will make it harder for Facebook to hoover up data about what its users are doing around the web. “And I think it’s hard to argue against that. I’ve been — I’ve been shocked that there’s been a pushback on this to this degree.”
And then, when Swisher goes on to ask him how he thinks this might impact Facebook’s bottom line, the Apple CEO lowers the boom. “Yeah, Kara, I’m not focused on Facebook. So I don’t know.”
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