With 11 million Facebook accounts in Spain alone and more than 500 million worldwide, the latest massive data leak suffered by said social network is already one of the most important. If you are a user and you are concerned about your privacy, this is what you should do to know if your Facebook data has been leaked.
Millions of personal data exposed: who and how protect your data?
In recent years we have all gotten used to using social networks and other platforms very quickly. That has led to assume as normal having to provide certain personal data type name and surname, place where you live, sex, marital status, studies, telephone number and logically the email with which you register.
And the truth is that it shouldn't be like that, because why do many of these platforms need so much data? Well, you already know the answer: interest segmentation and advertising. Because the more data any service has from its users, the easier it will be to offer them what they really want.
The problem is that there are companies whose only objective when collecting all this data is to obtain their own benefit by exchanging or selling it to a third party. That is where the first problem arises.
The second problem is, assuming it's not for any of this, how do they protect that data and what do they do in the event of a mass breach. According to both answers, you should ask yourself if it is worth using the service, if it is necessary to give them so much information and to what extent being real or fictitious could affect its use.
Because then there is a leak and with a bit of social engineering and other techniques it is very easy to trick numerous users so that they end up giving their credentials to different services, some of which are very sensitive. As, for example, bank access data, etc.
A leak of 500 million user accounts
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The latest leak of FacebookFor now, it is already one of the biggest suffered by the platform and affects more than 500 million accounts of users from more than 106 countries. Only in Spain 11 million are affected.
With such data, it is likely that if you are a user of the service, your data has also been exposed. Information such as full name and surname, telephone numbers, identity document, place of residence, etc.
According to Facebook, a large percentage of all that leaked data corresponds to a security problem that occurred in 2019 and that you still remember. What's more, only just over two and a half million accounts have actually been compromised. Therefore, despite the problem it entails, it seems that it would be "minor". Because indeed many of those affected would have already changed these data at the time.
How to know if your Facebook data has been exposed
The database corresponding to this leak was offered in its entirety through the website of a group of Hackers who asked for a payment for access in exchange. Now the same database could be obtained for free, although it was not something easy because you have to search. But anyone could decipher them and use them for whatever he wanted.
Therefore, as verify to what extent our account has been compromised or it is not something complex for most, it is best to resort to certain pages that have already been updated including said vulnerability.
Two of these solutions that will let you know if you have been affected by this or any other leak are Firefox Monitor y Have I been pwned?. Through these services you will only have to enter the email address you used to sign up or log in. If they find any correspondence, they will tell you so that you can act accordingly.
Therefore, it is not only great to see if you have suffered some kind of problem due to the Facebook leak, but also to see if you run some kind of risk due to other services and platforms.
How to protect your personal information on Facebook
Whether your Facebook account data has been exposed or not, the best thing you can do is take a number of steps to help protect your most personal information.
The first thing and something basic from time to time is change the password for access to the social network. The second is turn on XNUMX-step verification, something that whenever a platform or service offers it should be used.
With these two steps we would already have the peace of mind that they will not be able to access the profile. Although if you receive a message or email telling you that you should reset your password, Check well that it is not a phishing technique. For example, seeing what is the email address from which it is sent. Although in case of doubt, it is best to access by typing the address of the platform yourself. In this case, the Facebook address and then look for the option to change password.
From there, as we told you before, avoid sharing your phone number and other real personal data unless it is strictly necessary and provides some kind of benefit. If you can, use a second email address for access to all those services that aren't really essential. Also try not to use personal information to generate an access pin or password.
With all this and a lot of common sense, you shouldn't have any problem when using this or any other social network.