Two more databases full of Facebook info have been discovered in plain view by security researchers, starting another privacy furore for the social media giant.
Security outfit UpGuard Cyber Risk has found two databases full of Facebook info, one belonging to a media company Cultura Colectiva based in Mexico, and another belonging to former social app At The Pool.
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The two databases contain different information. The Cultura Colectiva database has over 540m entries, and shows likes, comments, reactions, account names and other data. There’s a serious wedge of data here, 146GB of personal information. However the second database, from now defunct social media app At The Pool, could be much more damaging as it is storing the plaintext passwords of 22,000 users for the app.
These passwords are only for At The Pool, and that app has been on the ScrAppheap for a while, however when you consider that users might reuse old passwords (a no-no) or use the same passwords across multiple different log-ins (A bigger no-no) it’s easy to see how this database, openly available on the internet, could cause problems for innocent web users.
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The database includes names and email addresses for those affected, providing potential security breaches for each of the 22,000 people in the database. j
Now, the breach isn’t Facebook’s fault as such. Facebook harvests the data and provides it to third-party app developers. But once they’ve got their hands on your data,it’s these developers that are responsible for your data, not Facebook themselves. However, it’s nightmare fuel for the privacy conscious and until this is resolved it’s just building towards the narrative that third-party app developers on Facebook perhaps aren’t taking as much care of your privacy as they should be.
Upkeep has put their full analysis online, if you’re into that.
Scared of using third-party apps yet? Let us know your thoughts by pinging us on Twitter at @TrustedReviews
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.