Facebook Data Breach 2021: Data is a major consent for users in today’s fast running world.
Among many digital platforms and social networks, data breaches and leaks make users afraid of their personal data.
In the meantime, the news of the Facebook data breach 2021 is making us more terrible thoughts after the LinkedIn data leak 2021.
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Facebook Data Leak of 2018
In 2018, Facebook and the British Company, Cambridge Analytics were exposed for misusing the data of millions of Facebook users without their consent. This was done to aid Trump’s presidential campaign and influence politics.
Later the company CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified and apologized for the breach of trust, hints at preventative actions, and announced a new policy of data access restrictions.
However, in 2021, Facebook is to face a mass action lawsuit as more than 500M Facebook users’ data have been released in a massive data breach. The leak dates back to 2019 but recently the user details and data were found on a hacker forum.
The data of 533M+ global users are said to be found there.
Facebook Data Leak Details:
- Facebook IDs
- User location
- Associated phone numbers
- Email address
- Facebook bio along with relationship status and employment.
Now, Facebook is to be sued in Europe. Digital Rights Ireland (DRI) announced that it is to process a mass action to sue the Facebook Company, allowing the right to compensation and liability for personal data breaches set out in the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
This is to compensate those affected by the law violation. Regarding the lawsuit, Facebook’s European headquarters, located in Ireland is now being investigated under European Union and Irish data protection laws.
Last December Facebook’s lead data regulator namely Data Protection Commission (DPC) declared a huge sanction of about €450k against Twitter as compensation for a data breach.
But the breach was publicly closed by Twitter as soon as it was found in 2019. Facebook was unable to disclose the leak even though claimed to have fixed it by 2019 until data was leaked during the breach. So Facebook is to be sanctioned more amount than Twitter by the DPC.
Details in Data Privacy and Protection:
Data privacy is a part of data security that comprises the data handling in the proper way along with the user consent, prior notice and regulatory obligations.
Different groups are urging Facebook users to check if their data privacy has been violated or data has been breached.
Tips for securing your social network accounts
Change your password as soon as you found out about any of the breaches.
If you found your details leaked in a data breach, make sure that your identification documents like Citizenship Card, Driver’s License and Passport details have not leaked. So change those details as soon as you found out.
Always keep a strong password including numeric, and alphabets with both the cases and symbols. If it becomes difficult to remember them for you, use secure password managers available online like Keep. Or, you can write them in your personal pocket notebook and keep them away from others.
Always set up two-factor authentication for your logins with your devices. As a security measure, you can change your email password every month and log out from all devices and all sessions once.
If you rarely use Facebook and want to protect the data you have made online, you may consider quitting Facebook and deleting your account. However, above mentioned methods can probably save your data from being compromised easily. Therefore, you can consider not quitting.
Data Protection and Security
Your data may also be leaked due to inefficiency and insufficient security measures practised by the tech companies, Internet Service Providers and other companies you rely on for the internet. While you login to any sites always check their privacy policy which must include
How do they deal with your data and third parties? What data is stored and accessed? Regulatory Restrictions
