The phone numbers of Facebook users exposed online

Hundreds of millions of phone numbers linked to Facebook accounts appeared in online databases that anyone could find and access before the information was removed.

A security researcher found more than 419 million records in several databases that were part of a server that was not password protected, reported TechCrunch. According to the report, about 133 million records came from Facebook US users and 18 million British registrations.

A Facebook spokesman said the company was still doing calculations, but that there were duplicates in these records. He estimates that about 200 million Facebook users have been affected.

"This dataset is old and seems to have information obtained before we made any changes last year to prevent people from finding other people using their phone numbers" , said a spokesman for Facebook in a statement. "The dataset has been removed and we have found no evidence that Facebook accounts have been compromised."

The social network thinks that anyone who has scratched the data has been able to do so thanks to a feature now gone that allowed people to search for users by phone number. Following the Cambridge Analytica In March 2018, Facebook closed this search tool in April 2018.

At the moment, Facebook does not know who was behind the databases or why they retrieved this data. The TechCrunch and security researcher, Sanyam Jain, who discovered the exposed phone numbers, also was not able to identify the owner of the databases. They were demolished after contacting the web host.

Privacy and security experts have warned social network users to provide their phone numbers online. Exposing these numbers could expose users to spam, harassment and SIM card exchange, as long as the operator convinces a mobile operator to switch your number to another SIM card.

"Think carefully before giving your phone number to a social networking company, they are gathering and monetizing consumer data," said Colin Bastable, CEO of the security training company, Lucy Security, in a statement. "And the phone number can be used to compromise your account."

After CEO of Twitter, Jack DorseyThe account was hacked last week, Twitter said Wednesday that he temporarily stopped the possibility of tweeting via text messages.