Facebook Data Breach Investigation

Facebook is currently being investigated by a number of countries after a database, which is believed to contain a mix of names, phone numbers, locations, and other details of over 530 million people has been published for free in a hacking forum online.

The database covers 533 million people in 106 countries, with 11 million of those users coming from the UK according to researchers.

Facebook states the breach is an “old” breach which occurred in 2019 and contains “old” information, with the issue that caused it being fixed. However, due to the unchanging nature of information such as phone or mobile numbers, which many people do not change for years, it could potentially leave people open to targeted attacks including SMS scams.

CyberLab Advice:

If you wish to check whether you might have been affected by this breach, head over to: haveibeenpwned and input your phone number. From there, it will verify whether if your number has been involved in the data breach.

As it stands anyone who has been found to be affected by this breach is advised not to panic, but to simply remain vigilant for any scam text messages or calls, and to report any that they find to 7726.