#Facebook breach software#

Because so many services across the web still have insecure methods of account recovery like security questions, information like birthdate, hometown, and alternate contact methods like phone numbers could give hackers more than enough to break into weakly protected accounts.įacebook stated that it has not seen evidence of this kind of information being used “in the wild” for phishing attempts or account recovery break-ins. All a would-be hacker needs to do is impersonate you and pretend to be locked out of your account-usually starting with the “Forgot your password?” option you see on log-in pages.

In addition, the combination of email addresses and personal details could help someone break into one of your accounts on another service. Details about your hometown, education, and places you recently checked in, for example, could allow scammers to craft emails impersonating your college, your employer, or even an old friend. The information that attackers stole from Facebook is essentially a database connecting millions of people’s contact information to their personal information, which amounts to a treasure trove for phishers and scammers. The difference between a clumsy, obviously fake phishing email and a frighteningly convincing phishing email is personal information.

#Facebook breach software#

With that in mind, the best thing to do is stay on top of some digital security basics: look out for common signs of phishing, keep your software updated, consider using a password manager, and avoid using easy-to-guess security questions that rely on personal information. In particular, adversaries could use this information to turbocharge their efforts to break into other accounts, particularly by using phishing messages or exploiting legitimate account recovery flows. The most worrying potential outcome of this hack for most people is what someone might be able to do with this mountain of sensitive personal information.

Information about your account will be at the bottom in the box titled “Is my Facebook account impacted by this security issue?” What Should You Do If Your Account Was Hit? In the meantime, you can also check Facebook’s Help Center to find out if your account was among the 30 million compromised-and if it was, which of the three rough groups above it fell into.

The last 10 places they checked into or were tagged inįor the remaining 1 million users whose access tokens were stolen, attackers did not access any information.įacebook is in the process of sending messages to affected users.

For 15 million users, attackers access names and phone numbers, emails, or both (depending on what people had listed).įor 14 million, attackers access those two sets of information as well as extensive profile details including: The 30 million compromised accounts fall into three main categories. The attackers were able to access an incredibly broad array of information from those accounts. Since then, further investigation has revised that number down to 30 million accounts. When Facebook first announced this incident, it stated that attackers may have been able to steal access tokens-digital “keys” that control your login information and keep you logged in-from 50 to 90 million accounts. The number of users whose access tokens were stolen is lower than Facebook originally estimated. Here are the key details you need to know, as well as recommendations about what to do if your account was affected. Then, this past Friday, Facebook released more information, revising earlier estimates about the number of affected users and outlining exactly what types of user data were accessed. Two weeks ago, it announced a massive breach with scant details. Keeping up with Facebook privacy scandals is basically a full-time job these days.