Facebook data breach: Millions of phone numbers accessible on the Internet

Date: 05.09.2019

Responsible body: Facebook

Type of data breach: data breach Facebook phone numbers freely accessible on the Internet

Around 420 million data records, including telephone numbers of Facebook users, primarily from the USA, Great Britain and Vietnam, were freely accessible on the Internet. It remains unclear for how long the data was public. So far there are no indications of hacked accounts.

Facebook explains that this list dates back to the time when Facebook friends could still be searched for using their phone number. But even if it is older data, the case is no less delicate. After all, telephone numbers remain the same for years.

Categories of data concerned: Telephone numbers and associated Facebook identification numbers, in some cases also information on the name and gender of the users

Classification in practice: The data breach on Facebook affects sensitive data

The danger with this kind of data gap is that cyber criminals could use it to hijack Facebook profiles.

Country: USA, Great Britain, Vietnam

Source: tagesschau.de

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