(TheLibertyRevolution.com)- Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is experiencing first-hand the dangers of poor security at social media companies like his.
This weekend, information from more than 500 million users of Facebook was made readily available to people on the internet. A Bloomberg report said the database was published on a forum for hackers, there for the taking.
In January, hackers were able to exploit a vulnerability that related to phone numbers that users had associated with their Facebook accounts. Ultimately, this led to a massive hack of private data in one database.
Among those users who had their phone number and other personal information made available was Zuckerberg, the CEO of the big tech social media company. Many people around the world are probably thinking that he’s getting what he deserves here.
Facebook tried to downplay the situation, saying the data was “very old.” The statement read:
“This is old data that was previously reported on in 2019. We found and fixed this issue in August 2019.”
The company said it was a flaw in their technology that allowed that information to be accessed. The problem is that once that information is out, there’s no getting it back or preventing it from being sold, shared and published wherever.
Dave Walker, a security expert, though, pointed out that it just wasn’t true. He tweeted a screenshot of Zuckerberg’s personal information and phone number that were a part of the database, blacking it out, and saying:
“Regarding the #FacebookLeak, of the 533M people in the leak — the irony is that Mark Zuckerberg is regrettably included in the leak as well. If journalists are struggling to get a statement from @facebook, maybe just give him a call, from the tel in the leak?”
This latest data breach goes to show just how much information a company like Facebook collects on its users — and how vulnerable they are to having that information published fully online for anyone to see.
Included in the information that was published are Facebook IDs, phone numbers, locations, names, birth dates, Facebooks bios and even full email addresses, in some cases.
Another security expert said that databases like these are often held onto for long periods of time before they’re released, as the person who has possession of it tries to hold out for as much money as possible. Those were the words of Alon Gal, who serves as Hudson Rock’s chief technology officer of cybercrime intelligence.
He continued in a tweet:
“The process sometimes takes years, sometimes days, but eventually all private databases leak if they were sold around.”
It’s likely that Facebook will be forced to answer for this latest data leak, possibly even to government sources. The company has already been the center of various committee hearings in Congress for some of its policies, and now, this massive data leak might bring them back again.
Many members of Congress are likely to question not only whether Facebook has the ability to protect users’ information, but whether they should be allowed to collect it in the first place if all these leaks keep happening.
