A database of 533 million Facebook users, including 44 million in Egypt, 39 million in Tunisia and 1,997,658 in Cameroon, has been circulating on the Internet since April 3. According to Alon Gal, technical director of cybercrime intelligence firm Hudson Rock, which revealed the leak, 106 countries are affected by the hack. All 533,000,000 Facebook data records were just leaked for free.
This means that if you have a Facebook account, it is extremely likely the phone number used for the account was leaked.
Data in circulation includes full name, phone number, Facebook ID, last location, birthday, email address, account creation date, biography, relationship status .
This information, put together in a database, is the equivalent of a huge directory. Currently freely available on the Net, they can be used by hackers. They can be used to carry out targeted attacks such as phishing, SMS or email. The Internet users concerned must therefore redouble their vigilance.
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But how do you know if you are concerned?
Troy Hunt, the creator of the HaveIBeenPwned.com site, recovered the entire database. It is therefore possible from this site to know if his email or phone number is there. To search, enter the phone number in international format, that is, with the area code.
If this leak is not the first in the history of the social network, t is however the largest with 419 million people hacked in September 2019 and 267 million in December of the same year.
The countries most affected by this piracy are Egypt (44 million users), Tunisia (39 million) and Italy (35 million).
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer who has advised startups across Africa on issues such as startup funding (Venture Capital, Debt financing, private equity, angel investing etc), taxation, strategies, etc. He also has special focus on the protection of business or brands’ intellectual property rights ( such as trademark, patent or design) across Africa and other foreign jurisdictions.
He is well versed on issues of ESG (sustainability), media and entertainment law, corporate finance and governance.
He is also an award-winning writer
Facebook data Egypt Tunisia Cameroon Facebook data Egypt Tunisia Cameroon