Details of 29 million Facebook users hacked in massive security breach

The Facebook Inc said attackers stole names and contact details of 29 million users in the mass security breach disclosed by the social media network late last month.

The breach, Facebook’s worst ever, has exacerbated concerns among users, lawmakers and investors that the company is not doing enough to safeguard data, particularly in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica data scandal.

Still, hackers neither accessed personal messages nor financial data and did not use Facebook logins to access other websites, all of which would have been a cause for greater concern. Facebook originally had said in late September hackers stole digital login codes to take over nearly 50 million user accounts.

On Friday, the company revealed that stolen data on 14 million users included birth dates, employers, education and lists of friends. For 15 million users, it was restricted to just name and contact details. All of those could help a fraudster pose as Facebook, the employer or a friend. They could then craft a more sophisticated email aimed at tricking users into providing login information on a fake page or into clicking on an attachment that would infect their computers. The Facebook said it will send customized messages in the coming days to affected users to explain what information the attackers accessed and how they can protect themselves, including from suspicious emails, text messages or calls. A company executive said on a conference call that the Facebook will not provide country-by-country breakdowns of the affected users.

The hackers used an automated program to move from account to account and harvest the data quickly. “We’re cooperating with the FBI, which is actively investigating and asked us not to discuss who may be behind this attack,” the Facebook said on a blog post. The social network in late September did not confirm if the information had actually been stolen.

“There’s not much more that the Facebook can do,” said Michael Pachter, an analyst with Wedbush Securities. “The stolen data is likely to be used by the hackers, so this problem is likely to persist for quite some time.” The Facebook’s latest vulnerability has existed since July 2017, but the company first identified it in mid-September after spotting a fairly large increase in the use of its “view as” feature. It determined that it was an attack on September 25.