267 million Facebook profiles being sold online: What to do

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267 million Facebook profiles existence sold online: What to exercise

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An online crook is selling information harvested from 267 million Facebook profiles in a "nighttime web" market for — well, only well-nigh $600.

Before you lot go alarmed, the data fix is conspicuously not very valuable, judging by what'due south been posted well-nigh it by Bleeping Reckoner and the Singaporean data-security house Cyble.

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Almost of the entries include Facebook users' full names, phone numbers and Facebook ID numbers. Some may as well include users' e-mail addresses, birth dates, gender and home land (near of the data involves U.South. residents), but there are no passwords involved.

Even more significantly, this is apparently the aforementioned Facebook-user data set we saw exposed (but not sold) online back in December 2019.

The information is probable to be a few years old, every bit it consists of what you could legitimately "scrape" from Facebook before the social network tightened up its access rules in mid-2018. It doesn't appear that the information was harvested in any kind of data breach.

How dangerous is this information?

Withal, the names and phone numbers would be useful to telemarketers, robocallers and scammers, who can audio much more convincing to potential victims if they know the victims' names.

The records that include birth dates would be valuable to identity thieves. But it's non clear how many of the records amid the 267 million include nascency dates.

What y'all tin can do about the Facebook data dump

Unfortunately, there's not a whole lot you tin do almost this right now. Names and phone numbers aren't secrets, for the most role. You lot could sign upwardly for ane of the best identity theft protection services, simply it's non clear if doing so would help.

Cyble has bought a re-create of the database and added information technology to its AmIBreached.com website, merely y'all'll accept to pay for the privilege of looking upward your own proper noun or electronic mail accost to see if information technology'due south involved in this data dump. (Cyble is offering three months complimentary.)

We would be glad to encounter the costless HaveIBeenPwned alienation-lookup service adding the data equally well, although site operator Troy Chase might have to consider adding an option to search by name.

The all-time solution of all might be for Facebook to buy a copy of the data set, then notify each affected individual nearly the compromise. Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg could probably pay the $600 cost with pocket alter.

Paul Wagenseil is a senior editor at Tom'due south Guide focused on security and privacy. He has besides been a dishwasher, fry cook, long-haul commuter, code monkey and video editor. He'due south been rooting effectually in the information-security space for more than 15 years at FoxNews.com, SecurityNewsDaily, TechNewsDaily and Tom'due south Guide, has presented talks at the ShmooCon, DerbyCon and BSides Las Vegas hacker conferences, shown upward in random Idiot box news spots and even moderated a console give-and-take at the CEDIA home-applied science conference. You tin can follow his rants on Twitter at @snd_wagenseil.

Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/news/267-million-facebook-profiles

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