After Facebook’s massive data breach, here’s how to check if you were one of the 29mn hacked users
Facebook has set up a page to allow users to check if they were one of the 29 million people whose data was accessed by hackers between September 17 and 27.
The social media giant created the page for any of their 2 billion users who are concerned their personal information may have been unlawfully compromised in the massive hack. Visitors to the ‘help centre’ who are logged in to Facebook will see a message on the page saying if their account was impacted by the data breach.
The company says sensitive information like passwords or financial data was not affected.
READ MORE: FBI investigating as Facebook says hackers accessed data of 29 million users
Some 15 million people had their name and contact details disclosed. On top of that, hackers breached the accounts of an additional 14 million people to see details from their profile, including the device types they use to access Facebook, their education background, and employment data.
“We’re very sorry this happened. Your privacy is incredibly important to us,” reads a statement from Facebook, before telling users if they had been targeted. This isn’t the social network’s first apology to users this year.
In fact, this scandal is just the latest in a string of Facebook user privacy breaches. The Cambridge Analytica bombshell that dropped earlier this year in which personal data belonging to millions of Facebook profiles was harvested by the data analytics firm to target them with political ads was by far the biggest controversy to rock the company this year.
READ MORE: Facebook using phone numbers submitted for security purposes to target ads
In September, Facebook admitted to using phone numbers provided for security purposes to target individuals with ads as well as shadow contact information – data not directly provided by the user but obtained from their ‘friends’ list.
The FBI is currently investigating the latest cyber attack. Facebook says the bureau has asked it not discuss who may be behind the hack. Shares have dropped by 1.1 percent since the statement was released.
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