Facebook hack: 29 million accounts were compromised

It was a difficult year for Facebook.

The company said Friday that hackers had access to 29 million personal accounts following a serious data breach two weeks ago. In almost half of the cases, hackers were able to see details such as the status of their users, the region in which they live and some of the history of their searches.

This information was revealed after the company announced to users that 50 to 90 million accounts may have been compromised, inviting all those forced to disconnect from the platform on Friday, September 28, to change their words. password. In a Facebook blog post published before the announcement of the violation, the company said it had identified a previously unnoticed vulnerability in its code, thus giving hackers the opportunity to steal users' access tokens , which allows you to stay connected to the platform for months. a time.

According to CNN, the company's vice president, Guy Rosen, reports that the FBI is "actively investigating" this violation. Rosen said the FBI had asked Facebook's employees "not to discuss who might be behind this attack" or to share other details that could jeopardize the investigation into the reports. cyber attacks.

According to the most recent information, hackers could see the phone numbers and email addresses of 29 million users, as well as additional biographical information – including the current declared city, education, the the last ten places where they were marked and the last 15 searches – out of 14 million.

This is the latest example that shows that private information shared online may not remain private. And the hack raises further questions about Facebook's ability to protect users' data.

Earlier this year, Facebook was again at the center of the controversy over its security systems due to the Cambridge Analytica data breach, which affected 87 million accounts. At the time, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said, "We have a responsibility to protect your data. If we can not, we do not deserve to serve you. "

This time, Rosen took a step back and wrote in the blog: "Privacy and personal safety are extremely important, and we are sorry this has happened."

The latest data breach occurred as many question the role and influence of Silicon Valley in modern politics, wondering if Facebook can responsibly exercise the power it holds over people's daily lives . From fake news to targeted ads, to trivial data breaches, any change in Facebook's practices, whether wanted or not, can have major effects on the world.

For now, it's probably a good idea to update your password.

"I feel like we've let people down and we really feel bad," Zuckerberg told the New Yorker in a September article. "But that brings us back to the idea that we should not make the same mistake many times.