During the WhatsApp privacy violation fiasco, Facebook left no stone unturned to assure its users that their data is as safe as houses. But alas, in a massive data breach earlier this week, the personal information of around 533 million users was leaked online.
One of the biggest names that have been a victim of his massive online leak, is the CEO of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg who had guaranteed our data security a few months back. Apart from him, the data of the other co-founders Chris Hughes and Dustin Moskovitz were exposed.
What Is Safe And What Isn’t?
A report by Business Insider revealed that around 3.2 crore users from the US, 1.1 crores from the UK, and 60 lakh people from India were subjected to this cybercrime.
One of the tweets by Alon Gal, a security expert read that “all 533,000,000 Facebook records were just leaked for free. This means that there is a high chance that the phone number of all these Facebook users was leaked as well.”
And it is not just the phone numbers. Other data fed into your personal accounts including name, location, birthdate, email address, relationship status, and other information also seems endangered now. Although Facebook has not officially acknowledged their accountability in this matter.
Also Read: Why Did Rivals Facebook And Google Invest In Telecom Giant Jio?
One of the ways to be sure whether your data is safe is to go on one of the websites that can check if your personal information was exposed or not, for instance, Have I Been Pwned.
It is important to be sure at this moment because this kind of data leaves us vulnerable in the hands of hackers who can use our personal information for social engineering, scamming, hacking, marketing, or worse, selling to illegal organizations.
What About Mark Zuckerberg’s Data Leak?
The man who asked us to trust WhatsApp when the rumors about its privacy policies were at its peak and people tried to find solace in one of its newest competitors, Signal, seems to be up to pretty nasty things. No no, not that!
As a result of the data leak, it was found that Mark himself uses the Signal app. A security researcher confirmed the same by posting his mobile number which corroborated the claims. This came at a time when most of the users are already unsure about the safety regulations of the app.
However, Signal took full advantage of the situation to promote their product while deriding Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook. Social media is appalled and amused with this interesting turn of events.
However, Facebook has not come out with an official statement yet. Until that happens, you follow Mark’s lead—download Signal. Nah, just kidding (sic)!
Image Credits: Google Images
Sources: India Today, News 18, Business Today
Find The Blogger: @soumyaseema
The post is tagged under: WhatsApp, Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, Signal, Alon Gal, cybercrime, data leak, breach, owner, co-founder, Have I Been Pwned, Chris Hughes, personal accounts, name, location, birthdate, email address, relationship status, Dustin Moskovitz, 3.2 crore users from the US, 1.1 crores from the UK, 60 lakh people from India, security expert
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