Skip to Content
Silicon Valley

How to tell for sure if you’re a victim of Facebook’s huge data breach

October 13, 2018

Facebook now admits hackers in the security breach revealed two weeks ago stole a lot of sensitive information from millions of users.

The news: Facebook said in a blog post that it now thinks some 30 million users, rather than 50 million, were affected by a recent breach that allowed hackers to steal personal data. However, 14 million of them had details such as their religion, birthplace, and place of work exposed. The remaining 16 million either suffered no data loss or had only their e-mail and/or other contact details stolen. Previously, Facebook had said it didn't know what, if any, information was compromised.

Are you a victim? Check Facebook's help center to see if your data was leaked. The company also plans to contact anyone who may have lost data, offering advice on dealing with things like suspicious e-mails. That’s laudable, but it’s a shame Facebook’s own security wasn’t tight enough in the first place to stop hackers from compromising the digital keys that let users stay connected to it without having to log in on each visit.

Whodunnit? The social network says the FBI has asked it not to comment on who may have been responsible for the attack while the Feds investigate.

Any more leaks? Facebook says its other apps and services, including Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp, weren't affected by the hack. That’s some consolation, but it nonetheless highlights the risk of running several services that share user data among them. (That increasing integration was among the reasons both Instagram's and WhatsApp's founders left Facebook this year.) It will no doubt add to the questions coming from lawmakers and regulators on both sides of the Atlantic about whether one company should be allowed to control so many services.

Keep Reading

Most Popular

Large language models can do jaw-dropping things. But nobody knows exactly why.

And that's a problem. Figuring it out is one of the biggest scientific puzzles of our time and a crucial step towards controlling more powerful future models.

The problem with plug-in hybrids? Their drivers.

Plug-in hybrids are often sold as a transition to EVs, but new data from Europe shows we’re still underestimating the emissions they produce.

Google DeepMind’s new generative model makes Super Mario–like games from scratch

Genie learns how to control games by watching hours and hours of video. It could help train next-gen robots too.

How scientists traced a mysterious covid case back to six toilets

When wastewater surveillance turns into a hunt for a single infected individual, the ethics get tricky.

Stay connected

Illustration by Rose Wong

Get the latest updates from
MIT Technology Review

Discover special offers, top stories, upcoming events, and more.

Thank you for submitting your email!

Explore more newsletters

It looks like something went wrong.

We’re having trouble saving your preferences. Try refreshing this page and updating them one more time. If you continue to get this message, reach out to us at customer-service@technologyreview.com with a list of newsletters you’d like to receive.