JAKARTA - More than one billion Facebook users have reportedly been victims of one of the biggest data leaks in social media history.
A hacker who goes by the pseudonym ByteBreaker claims to have collected 1.2 billion Facebook account data and is now selling the data on the dark web.
This process is carried out through web hacking, namely the use of automatic tools to collect large amounts of data from websites such as copying and attaching data on a large scale.
Stolen Sensitive Data
According to cybersecurity researchers from Cybernews, the stolen data includes:
- Full name
- User ID
- Email address
- Phone number
- Birth date
- Gender
- Locations (cities, states, and states)
Preliminary search said that ByteBreaker exploited a loophole in Facebook's API tool designed to allow third-party apps to access user data.
If this claim proves true, then this incident will be the largest hacking data leak ever on social media platforms.
Warning For Facebook Users
Security officials are now urging all Facebook users to:
- Immediately change their account password
- Freeze (freeze) their credit or financial reports
- Enable fraud warnings in bank accounts
Authorities warn that the information in the dataset is complete enough for cybercriminals to use in opening credit cards or accessing victims' financial accounts.
Is It True That This Data Is New?
ByteBreaker has uploaded an example of 100,000 user data on the dark web to prove its claims. However, neither Facebook (Meta) nor cybersecurity experts doubt the authenticity of these claims.
A Meta spokesperson stated that the data in question may have come from an old leak in 2021, which at that time involved more than 500 million users.
"This comes from 2021, so this is not a new claim. We have revealed it years ago and have taken steps to prevent similar incidents," explains Meta.
A team from Hackread also found that part of the 100,000 sample data did come from a 2021 leak, which led to allegations that hackers only repackaged old data as new data.
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In addition, ByteBreaker said that 1.2 billion accounts were stored in 200 million lines. Whereas in the database, one row generally stores complete one user information. This raises a mismatch in the number and reinforces doubts over the claim.
Operandi Mode: Gap In Facebook API
ByteBreaker claims to have abused the Facebook's 'Application Programming Interface' feature that should be used by the application to display user data such as name or upload.
The hacker is said to have found ways to exploit this loophole and access large amounts of data without permission.
It's like finding a gap in the digital library system to download all visitor contact data, not just borrowing one book.
Protection Steps Recommended
Users are advised to:
- Changing email and social media passwords
- Freeze temporary credit data
- Enable two-factor authentication (2FA)
- Avoid reusing the same email or phone number for many accounts
With 2FA, login will require additional steps such as a verification code to a cellphone/email, making it harder to hack even though the password is known.
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