Facebook Data Leak Exposed: Millions of Users’ Personal Info at Risk
The Facebook Data Breach: What Went Down?
Just last weekend, a hacker forum dropped a bombshell: a colossal data breach had taken place, laying bare the personal details of over 533 million Facebook users. This massive leak included phone numbers, email addresses, locations, genders, and other sensitive info. Initially, the data was up for sale on the forum, with prices starting as low as 3-5 euros. But soon enough, it was being spread like wildfire across various platforms, free for the taking.
The Sheer Scale of the Breach
The leaked data is staggering, with over 533 million records from 106 countries. The total size of the compressed data is a whopping 15 GB, which balloons to over 70 GB when decompressed. The data includes:
- Phone numbers
- Facebook IDs
- Full names
- Locations
- Birthdates
- Biographies
- Email addresses (in some cases)
The data is neatly organized by country, with each country’s data tucked away in separate files. For instance, Turkey’s data is stored in a file named “Turkey.zip,” which is 641 MB in size when compressed and expands to 2.91 GB when decompressed.
The Fallout from the Breach
This data breach is a big deal due to the sensitive nature of the information exposed. Phone numbers and other personal details can be exploited for various malicious purposes, including:
- Social engineering attacks
- Targeted phishing campaigns
- Spam SMS and robocalls
- Identity theft
- Harassment and threats
The data could also be peddled to third parties, such as betting sites or e-commerce platforms, for marketing or other shady purposes.
The Root of the Breach
The breach is believed to have stemmed from a vulnerability in Facebook’s system that was reported way back in 2019. This vulnerability allowed attackers to scrape user data, including phone numbers, before it was finally patched. The data collected before the patch was applied is likely the source of this massive leak.
According to some cybersecurity experts, a bot was developed to exploit this vulnerability and automatically collect user data. While many were skeptical about the bot’s existence, some experts confirmed its validity.
The Structure of the Leaked Data
The leaked data is structured in a specific format, with each record containing the following fields:
- ID
- Phone number
- First name
- Last name
- Birthday
- Gender
- Locale
- Hometown
- Location
- Link
The data files are compressed in various formats, including zip, rar, and 7z, indicating that the data was collected at different times or by different individuals.
Countries in the Crosshairs
The data breach affects users from 106 countries. Here’s a glimpse at the countries and the number of records for each:
- Afghanistan: 558,393
- Africa: 14,323,766
- Algeria: 11,505,898
- Argentina: 2,347,553
- Australia: 7,320,478
- Austria: 1,249,388
- … and many more countries
Wrapping Up
The Facebook data breach is a stark reminder of the importance of data security and the potential fallout from vulnerabilities in large-scale platforms. Users are advised to stay vigilant and take necessary precautions to safeguard their personal information.
