Cybersecurity
Data on Hundreds of Millions of U.S. Facebook Users Exposed
- Vietnamese group likely trying to sell access to user details
- Information could be deployed for spam or phishing attacks
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Information on 267 million Facebook users, including user names, phone numbers and Facebook IDs, was exposed online, according to a cybersecurity researcher.
The data, mostly from U.S. Facebook users, was posted on a searchable database by a group that appeared to be based in Vietnam, said Bob Diachenko, the cyber threat intelligence director at Security Discovery, a Ukrainian cybersecurity website that offers news and consulting services. The Vietnamese group appeared to be charging for access to the data, but a flaw in their code inadvertently left the database open to all, he said.