Millions of Facebook users’ phone numbers were exposed in an open online database in the company’s latest privacy lapses. The database was not password protected even though it contained users mobile numbers which were linked to accounts, this means anyone could have gotten access to them if looking.
Editorial credit: Chinnapong / Shutterstock.com
The server does not belong to Facebook however the database has a unique Facebook ID linked to each of the phone numbers. It is believed that 133m of the numbers are US users, 18m are Uk users and 50m are Vietnam users.
Facebook have confirmed the reports and said they are currently investigating when and who had accessed the database. The spokesperson also said that the database has been taken down, confirming that there is “no evidence that Facebook accounts were compromised”.
They believe that the records were most likely collected by using a tool that Facebook had disabled in April 2018 after the Cambridge Analytica controversy. Facebook emphasized that the exposed data was “old” and would have been removed prior to the April 2018 policy change.
“This dataset is old and appears to have information obtained before we made changes last year to remove people’s ability to find others using their phone numbers,” a spokeswoman said in a statement. “The dataset has been taken down and we have seen no evidence that Facebook accounts were compromised.”
