Facebook Data Leaks 2023: History and Complete Timeline
Posted: Wed Dec 04, 2024 10:18 am
Facebook Data Leaks 2022: History and Complete Timeline
Facebook may have been one of the first social media sites , but in 2022, it has become known for multiple instances of exposing user data in infamous data breaches. Facebook has a long history of being terrible at protecting user data, which dates back to its earliest days. As a result, Facebook is always in the news for the wrong reasons. In fact, their biggest campaign ever was an apology, which speaks volumes about what goes on behind the scenes. The interesting thing is that qatar b2b leads
Facebook has not had to face any serious consequences so far, and as a result, the company continues to leak your personal data on a regular basis . In fact, the company was responsible for the most data breaches in 2019. In this article, we will cover the various Facebook data breaches, their history, their full timeline, and why they are important in 2022.
Contents hide
1 Timeline and History of Facebook Data Breach
1.1 400 malicious apps in October 2022
1.2 1.5 billion users in October 2021
1.3 533 million users in April 2021
1.4 309 million users in December 2019
1.5 419 million users in September 2019
1.6 1.5 million users in April 2019
1.7 540 million users in April 2019
1.8 600 million users in March 2019
1.9 50 million users in September 2018
1.10 14 million users in 2018
1.11 6 million users in 2013
2 How to Prevent Security Breaches
2.1 Clear your Facebook activity history
2.2 Avoid third-party tracking
2.3 Use two-factor authentication
2.4 Limit who sees your messages
3 Final Thoughts
3.1 Related publications:
Facebook Data Breach Timeline and History
400 Malicious Apps in October 2022
On October 7, Meta disclosed the 2022 Facebook data breach. They said they had found more than 400 malicious apps in the Android and iOS app stores that targeted Facebook users to steal their login credentials. Security experts say this put millions of users at risk. “These apps were hosted on the Google Play Store and Apple App Store and disguised as photo editors, games, VPN services , business apps , and other utilities to trick people into downloading them,” Meta said.
1.5 billion users in October 2021
Data from nearly 1.5 billion Facebook users has been found on an online hacking forum for sale . The records were collected by scraping publicly available data.
533 million users in April 2021
As for recent Facebook data breaches, one of the most recent ones happened in April 2021, where more than 500 million users were affected. It is also one of the largest Facebook data breaches. The data exposed included location, phone numbers, full name, and sometimes even email addresses . More than 500 million people in more than 106 different countries were affected.
]
309 million users in December 2019
Facebook decided to end 2019 with a bang and faced another infamous data breach. The names, phone numbers, and IDs of more than 300 million Facebook users were left exposed on the dark web for nearly two weeks. Experts say it was the result of abuse of Facebook's API by cybercriminals in Vietnam.
419 million users in September 2019
2019 is starting to look like the worst year in Facebook history when it comes to data breaches. Another 419 million Facebook users were found on a server that was exposed. Each entry included their unique Facebook ID , as well as their phone number . In some cases, their location and full names were also listed . The server wasn’t owned by Facebook, and no one was sure who actually owned it. No one knows who took the information from Facebook’s system, but only a motivated hacker or someone inside the company would have been able to access Facebook at that level.
1.5 million users in April 2019
Another of Facebook’s most publicized data breaches occurred in April 2019, when it was revealed that Facebook had been collecting the email contacts of over 1.5 million relatively new Facebook users. Of course, the company did this without the users’ consent. That’s because Facebook required new users to verify their email address by entering their email password during the sign-up process , which drew heavy criticism from security experts. Once the email address password was entered, the process of importing email contacts would automatically begin. Facebook didn’t ask anyone’s permission to do this, and there was no way to cancel or stop the process once it had begun. Facebook then used this data to improve the performance of its ads, friend suggestions, etc. Facebook claims that they couldn’t see the content of users’ emails, but being able to see who you’re talking to and messaging is still a pretty serious breach of privacy, since 1.5 million email addresses were linked.
540 million users in April 2019
2019 was a big year for Facebook data breaches, as hundreds of millions of Facebook user records were discovered to be exposed on a public server in April. Researchers from a security company discovered the leak and contacted the Mexican firm that hosted the server. However, it took several months before the server was secured. As a result, it is unknown how long the user records were exposed, or whether anyone tried to take advantage of the fact that they were exposed. The information was only made private after Facebook learned of the situation.
600 million users in March 2019
When it comes to Facebook data breaches, they’ve only gotten worse over the years. In 2019, Facebook suffered a pretty significant data breach . A cybersecurity expert revealed that Facebook was storing hundreds of millions of its users’ passwords in plain text files. This meant that only company employees could access these specific files, but it still meant that personal passwords were available to more than 2,000 Facebook employees. In some cases, these records date back to 2012. Facebook hasn’t said why it stored users’ passwords this way. It wasn’t until a month later that it
Facebook may have been one of the first social media sites , but in 2022, it has become known for multiple instances of exposing user data in infamous data breaches. Facebook has a long history of being terrible at protecting user data, which dates back to its earliest days. As a result, Facebook is always in the news for the wrong reasons. In fact, their biggest campaign ever was an apology, which speaks volumes about what goes on behind the scenes. The interesting thing is that qatar b2b leads
Facebook has not had to face any serious consequences so far, and as a result, the company continues to leak your personal data on a regular basis . In fact, the company was responsible for the most data breaches in 2019. In this article, we will cover the various Facebook data breaches, their history, their full timeline, and why they are important in 2022.
Contents hide
1 Timeline and History of Facebook Data Breach
1.1 400 malicious apps in October 2022
1.2 1.5 billion users in October 2021
1.3 533 million users in April 2021
1.4 309 million users in December 2019
1.5 419 million users in September 2019
1.6 1.5 million users in April 2019
1.7 540 million users in April 2019
1.8 600 million users in March 2019
1.9 50 million users in September 2018
1.10 14 million users in 2018
1.11 6 million users in 2013
2 How to Prevent Security Breaches
2.1 Clear your Facebook activity history
2.2 Avoid third-party tracking
2.3 Use two-factor authentication
2.4 Limit who sees your messages
3 Final Thoughts
3.1 Related publications:
Facebook Data Breach Timeline and History
400 Malicious Apps in October 2022
On October 7, Meta disclosed the 2022 Facebook data breach. They said they had found more than 400 malicious apps in the Android and iOS app stores that targeted Facebook users to steal their login credentials. Security experts say this put millions of users at risk. “These apps were hosted on the Google Play Store and Apple App Store and disguised as photo editors, games, VPN services , business apps , and other utilities to trick people into downloading them,” Meta said.
1.5 billion users in October 2021
Data from nearly 1.5 billion Facebook users has been found on an online hacking forum for sale . The records were collected by scraping publicly available data.
533 million users in April 2021
As for recent Facebook data breaches, one of the most recent ones happened in April 2021, where more than 500 million users were affected. It is also one of the largest Facebook data breaches. The data exposed included location, phone numbers, full name, and sometimes even email addresses . More than 500 million people in more than 106 different countries were affected.
]
309 million users in December 2019
Facebook decided to end 2019 with a bang and faced another infamous data breach. The names, phone numbers, and IDs of more than 300 million Facebook users were left exposed on the dark web for nearly two weeks. Experts say it was the result of abuse of Facebook's API by cybercriminals in Vietnam.
419 million users in September 2019
2019 is starting to look like the worst year in Facebook history when it comes to data breaches. Another 419 million Facebook users were found on a server that was exposed. Each entry included their unique Facebook ID , as well as their phone number . In some cases, their location and full names were also listed . The server wasn’t owned by Facebook, and no one was sure who actually owned it. No one knows who took the information from Facebook’s system, but only a motivated hacker or someone inside the company would have been able to access Facebook at that level.
1.5 million users in April 2019
Another of Facebook’s most publicized data breaches occurred in April 2019, when it was revealed that Facebook had been collecting the email contacts of over 1.5 million relatively new Facebook users. Of course, the company did this without the users’ consent. That’s because Facebook required new users to verify their email address by entering their email password during the sign-up process , which drew heavy criticism from security experts. Once the email address password was entered, the process of importing email contacts would automatically begin. Facebook didn’t ask anyone’s permission to do this, and there was no way to cancel or stop the process once it had begun. Facebook then used this data to improve the performance of its ads, friend suggestions, etc. Facebook claims that they couldn’t see the content of users’ emails, but being able to see who you’re talking to and messaging is still a pretty serious breach of privacy, since 1.5 million email addresses were linked.
540 million users in April 2019
2019 was a big year for Facebook data breaches, as hundreds of millions of Facebook user records were discovered to be exposed on a public server in April. Researchers from a security company discovered the leak and contacted the Mexican firm that hosted the server. However, it took several months before the server was secured. As a result, it is unknown how long the user records were exposed, or whether anyone tried to take advantage of the fact that they were exposed. The information was only made private after Facebook learned of the situation.
600 million users in March 2019
When it comes to Facebook data breaches, they’ve only gotten worse over the years. In 2019, Facebook suffered a pretty significant data breach . A cybersecurity expert revealed that Facebook was storing hundreds of millions of its users’ passwords in plain text files. This meant that only company employees could access these specific files, but it still meant that personal passwords were available to more than 2,000 Facebook employees. In some cases, these records date back to 2012. Facebook hasn’t said why it stored users’ passwords this way. It wasn’t until a month later that it