Facebook warns that recent hack could have exposed other applications, including Instagram, Tinder, and Spotify<\/p>\n
Why it matters:\u00a0Facebook\u2019s bad year isn\u2019t getting any better. As the dust from the Cambridge Analytica scandal started to settle, the social network revealed a security vulnerability that could have exposed 50 million accounts. But the company has confirmed the hack is worse than first suspected: other apps that use Facebook\u2019s login service, including Spotify, Tinder, and Airbnb, could have also been compromised using the vulnerability.<\/p>\n
Facebook\u00a0announced\u00a0Friday that it identified the security issue earlier in the week. It involved exploiting a vulnerability in the \u201cview as\u201d feature, which lets people to see how their profiles look to others. The fault allowed hackers to steal Facebook\u2019s access tokens and take over people\u2019s accounts. As a security measure, Facebook forced over 90 million users to log out.<\/p>\n
Facebook said there was no evidence the hackers had access to \u201cprivate messages or posts,\u201d but warned \u201cthat may change\u201d as the investigation continues.<\/p>\n
Following the initial announcement, Facebook revealed in a follow-up conference call that other services using the company\u2019s login feature could also be at risk of having these accounts compromised. Many apps and websites allow people to sign-up using their Facebook credentials, and while there\u2019s been no confirmation of any being breached, it\u2019s another concern for the company and its users.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe access token enables someone to use the account as if they were the account holder themselves. This does mean they could access other third-party apps using Facebook login,\u201d said Guy Rosen, Facebook\u2019s vice president of product.<\/p>\n
Facebook\u2019s photo- and video-sharing app Instagram could also have been affected.<\/p>\n
Facebook said it has patched the vulnerability and reset the access tokens of all the accounts known to have been affected by this breach, but it\u2019s not enough to repair the PR damage that\u2019s been done. The fact that CEO Mark Zuckerberg and COO Sheryl Sandberg were among two of those affected by the hack hasn\u2019t helped matters. Since the news broke, $12 billion has been wiped from the company\u2019s value.<\/p>\n
If all this hasn\u2019t been enough to deal with, this week also saw Facebook admit that it\u00a0uses 2FA phone numbers\u00a0for ad targeting purposes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Facebook warns that recent hack could have exposed other applications, including Instagram, Tinder, and Spotify Why it matters:\u00a0Facebook\u2019s bad year isn\u2019t getting any better. As the dust from the Cambridge Analytica scandal started to settle, the social network revealed a security vulnerability that could have exposed 50 million accounts. But the company has confirmed the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tech-news"],"yoast_head":"\n