Facebook Breach a 'wake-up Call': Cybersecurity Expert

New Delhi [India], Oct 13 (ANI): Facebook's latest security breach, which enabled hackers to access the personal information of around 30 million users, should be a "wake-up call" for all stakeholders, cyber security expert Pawan Duggal said.

In a statement, Facebook disclosed that hackers accessed the usernames, contact details and other information from accounts of up to 14 million people.

Additionally, the hackers also stole information in regard to name and contact details of the accounts of another 15 million accounts, although they did not gain access to the information of accounts of one million people.

Reacting to the same, Duggal, while speaking to ANI, said, "It should be a wakeup call for all the stakeholders because earlier Facebook said only 5 million were impacted, now 30 million they say are impacted. I think this count will continue to keep on rising. I think this is nothing but an age-old mechanism of trying to reduce the impact of the disaster, by first coming in with small tricklets of information, and slowly over a period of time, expanding the scope of the said disclosures."

"Now clearly these episodes tell us that Facebook has not done enough that it should have done for the purposes of protecting the sensitive personal data and personal information of its users. Even if you look at the terms and conditions of Facebook, you will realise that the focus that needs to be there on cybersecurity is currently missing," Duggal added.

He further stated that the social media giants have a "bounden duty" to ensure that the user's data is not compromised in any manner, adding that users will now have to take a call on whether to stay on with Facebook or move on to other networks with more reliable security.

Meanwhile, another expert on cybersecurity, Sanjay Kaushik said that as a result of the attack, hackers can potentially hack into Facebook users' bank accounts, steal their identities etc.

"The hacked data, which includes details such as the email account, the mobile numbers, etc, can now be used to do a 'fishing attack,' which means, either your bank accounts can be hacked, your identities can be stolen, and there could be further consequences that can impact your personal lives," Kaushik said.

The hacked data included usernames, gender, locale/language, relationship status, religion, hometown, self-reported current city, birthdate, device types used to access Facebook, education, work, the last 10 places they checked into or were tagged in, website, people or pages they follow, and the 15 most recent searches. (ANI)

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