Cybersecurity experts confirmed over the weekend that about half a billion Facebook users’ personal information was breached.
The private information included locations, full names, birthdays, and phone numbers.
Facebook reported that the issue stemmed from a 2019 breach, which has been officially fixed, affecting more than 30 million accounts across the United States.
Users can log on to the third-party website, haveibeenpwned.com, to check if their account was breached by simply just putting in your email address, CNN reports. From there, the website confirms whether or not your email was attached to any past data breaches.
Around 533 million Facebook accounts were included in the breach, while only 2.5 million of that number had emails in the stolen data.
Troy Hunt, the HaveIBeenPwned creator and security expert, said on Twitter that the company is deciding whether to add phone numbers.
Hunt’s website said that “the primary value of the data is the association of phone numbers to identities; whilst each record included phone, only 2.5 million contained an email address.”
CNN reports that as of Monday, Facebook had not responded to a question about whether they would offer services allowing users to find out if their information was leaked.
As the breach has affected many across the United States, Facebook has been expanding its ban on COVID-19 vaccine misinformation.
Related
Facebook says it is scaling up its crackdown on incorrect claims while posting more information about how and where to get vaccinations.
The social media company will not allow users to post bogus claims about how the shots are dangerous, toxic or cause autism. Facebook will also take down posts that contend that the vaccines are ineffective.
In addition to banning false claims, Facebook will post information about the inoculations from reliable sources.
“Health officials and health authorities are in the early stages of trying to vaccinate the world against COVID-19, and experts agree that rolling this out successfully is going to be helping build confidence in vaccines,” Kang-Xing Jin, Facebook’s head of health, said.
By doing this, Jin believes this will be more effective in fighting misinformation.
“We know that misinformation thrives in the absence of good information,” he said. “So because of this, a core part of our strategy is actually partnering with health authorities and amplifying credible information to meet people’s needs and get their questions answered where they are.”
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