Facebook has gone through one of the biggest hacks in its history with over 500 million Facebook accounts being affected, including that of Mark Zuckerberg, the founder and CEO of the company. This breach has affected millions of people all over the world because the data is now available on a hacker forum, where anyone can access it.
The data that was hacked includes the sensitive information of millions of people, including personal information, phone numbers, and Facebook account information such as locations, birth dates, bios, email addresses, and more. Mark Zuckerberg, one of the affected, had his location released. Not to mention the personal information of Facebook co-founders Chris Hughes and Dustin Moskovitz was also released in the hack.
106 countries were affected by this data dump and of the 500 million Facebook accounts affected, 32 million were from the US, 11 million were from the UK, and 6 million were from India. Australia was also in the mix of countries affected by this hack.
The data dump was discovered by Alon Gal, who’s the co-founder of Hudson Rock, an Israeli cybercrime intelligence firm. He stated that the leaked data was a couple of years old and he discovered it circulating in hacker circles as early as January.
To determine if you’ve been affected by this massive hack, several websites can be used to cross-reference your data with the leaked data that’s available inline. You can go to Have I Been Pwned, which is one of the websites that can help you, and it will run your email address against the accounts that have been hacked before to see if your data is in the mix.
If you find that you have been affected by this data dump and your information has been compromised, you need to take precautions to make sure your information is secure. The first thing you need to do is make sure your ID is not compromised. Passports and driver’s licenses facilitate identity theft, so you need to replace them if they have been exposed.
Another great thing you can do is use a password manager. A password manager is a piece of software that generates new passwords for you whenever you need them and it also stores them so they’re always safe. The passwords generated by these programs are strong, so it will be a lot more difficult for cybercriminals to access your data.
Now, it’s important that you’re conscious about your cybersecurity. However, there’s always the risk that you will be affected by the inadequate security practices of the platforms you use. You have to be aware of how much risk you’re willing to take.
The information we share online is not always 100% safe from prying eyes or ill-intentioned people but taking as many precautions as you can and making our best effort will improve our security and privacy online, making us less likely to fall victim to these kinds of cyberattacks. For more information, visit the Ultimate Online Australia website.