Facebook discovers massive data breach exposing 50 million users' information


Another day, another Facebook leak.
This time around, a network attack has exposed nearly 50 million users' private data, Facebook told The New York Times on Friday. Hackers apparently found a coding flaw that allowed them to take over user accounts before Facebook noticed the breach earlier this week. It has since patched the issue and on Friday logged 90 million users out of their accounts in a security measure.
This incident seems to be on par with Facebook's last big infiltration, at least in terms of numbers. Cambridge Analytica, a data firm utilized by the Trump campaign, similarly harvested data from 50 million Facebook users during the 2016 election cycle. Facebook has also faced scrutiny for not blocking Russia-linked hackers from interfering in the 2016 election using its platform. Altogether, these controversies have led to Senate hearings, free-falling stocks, and repeated promises from Facebook to fix everything and protect user data.
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Clearly, that vision hasn't worked out yet. Facebook has just started investigating this newest breach, so it's not sure who launched the attack or exactly whose data it affects, the Times says — even though the company pretty much knows everything about everyone.
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Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.
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