533 Million Facebook Users Data From 106 Countries Leaked

In a hacker forum, more than 533 million records from Facebook users from all over the world have surfaced. The data was stolen some time ago and is now made available free of charge. The information leaked includes names, numbers, and addresses.

According to a report by Business Insider, the 533 million records are from Facebook users in 106 countries. A data record contains the full real name, the Facebook ID, the telephone number, the locations, biographical information and in some cases also the email address of the respective user. The leak was discovered on Saturday by Alon Gal, CTO of the IT security company Hudson Rock.

The gap closed two years ago

However, the published data sets are not current information. The data was stolen as part of a security vulnerability that was closed in summer 2019. Most of the information is therefore likely to be almost two years old and no longer valid. Cybercriminals could still use the records to steal users’ identities.

The stolen data sets were already offered in the corresponding hacker forum in January. The information could only be seen in encrypted form and had to be purchased. Apparently, only a few users were willing to pay the required amount, so that the 533 million data records have now been made available free of charge.

The publication of the 533 million data records is not the first incident in which a great deal of data was collected and used by Facebook users. In the past, the social media group repeatedly made headlines when data was passed on to third-party providers without the knowledge of the users concerned.