Another Facebook Hoax Message or a Real Message from Facebook after the Security Breach.

Another Facebook Hoax Message or a Real Message from Facebook that relates to your Facebook Profile.

Late last week, social media giant Facebook revealed more details about the September security breach, stating that the hackers had been able to harvest millions of names and contact details, including email addresses and other sensitive information, from Facebook users’ accounts.
However, the initial number reported of 50 million accounts accessed during the security breach has now been downscaled somewhat to around 30 million accounts.

Apparently, according to Facebook, the hackers had gained control of around 400,000 Facebook users’ accounts, which they then used in a wider attack to gain the access tokens of another 30 million Facebook users.  Access tokens are used by Facebook users to remain logged into Facebook, so they don’t need to re-enter their password every time they use the app.

Of the 30 million Facebook users affected by this security breach, 1 million Facebook users just had their access tokens stolen, while another 15 million Facebook users had their names and contact information stolen.  However, 14 million users had their names and contact details plus a whole heap of other personal information, such as username, gender, relationship status, hometown, self-reported current city, birth date, device types used to access Facebook, education and work, who or what they follow, recent contacts and their 15 most-recent searches.

However, according to Facebook, the hackers did not get access to data from Messenger, Messenger Kids, Instagram, WhatsApp, Oculus, Workplace, Pages, payments, third-party apps, or advertising or developer accounts.  And the hackers were also not able to access any private messages, with one notable exception, namely, if one of the original 400,000 users hacked was a Page Administrator whose page had received a message from someone on Facebook, then the content of that message was accessible to the hackers.

Although Facebook has reset the access tokens for all of the users affected by this security breach and is continuing to investigate the whole incident, the fact remains that millions of Facebook users’ accounts and a lot of information has been compromised.

It’s also important to note that Facebook’s investigation of the incident is ongoing, as it is looking at other ways that the hackers behind this attack may have used Facebook, including the possibility of other low-level access attempts on a smaller scale.

So, while Facebook has since fixed the vulnerability in the code that enabled the hackers to access users’ accounts and reset the access tokens for those affected by the breach, the hackers still have a lot of information. Information they could still use to their advantage.

So it’s important to pay attention to the type and sort of messages you might get via Facebook, and be careful how you respond to them. In our recent article about the latest Facebook hoax explains more about why you need to exercise caution.

We also include a list of precautions you can take to safeguard yourself from the attack of hackers in the digital space, so do have a read of our article ASAP.

People can check whether they were affected by visiting Facebook’s Help Center. In the coming days, they will send customized messages to the 30 million people affected to explain what information the attackers might have accessed, as well as steps they can take to help protect themselves, including from suspicious emails, text messages, or calls.

Customized messages that people will see depending on how they were impacted.

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