Hackers got access to 50 million user accounts on Facebook, the company announced Friday.
Exploiting a vulnerability in the“View As” feature on the social networking website, the cyber attackers got hold of 50 million users’ access tokens - digital keys which allow people stay logged in without having to re-enter their password into the website. Facebook became suspicious of a sudden spike in website usage on Sept. 16., following which it started probing into the matter.
The company has reset the affected 50 million token keys. In addition, it has reset the keys for another 40 million accounts (that used the “View As” feature) as a precautionary measure. "This is a very serious security issue, and we're taking it very seriously," said CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
Having suspended the “View As” feature while investigations are on about whether there has been any misuse of user information, the company has also notified law enforcement including the FBI and the Irish Data Protection Commission about the issue.
Data breaches are the worst nightmares for both websites and their users since a lot of personal information/data could potentially get into the wrong hands and/or misused. Facebook said that it is doubling the number of its employees who are working on security from 10,000 to 20,000.
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