Facebook confirms millions of passwords compromised

Facebook confirms millions of passwords compromised

Facebook has confirmed thousands of their employees had been able to see hundreds of millions of user passwords for years after a security researcher posted about the issue online.

The social media giant violated fundamental computer security practices by storing passwords in readable plain text, instead of scrambling the passwords.

Facebook says only its employees had access to the readable passwords and that it had found no evidence that its workers abused or gained improper access to them.

Pedro Canahuti, Facebook's VP Engineering, Security and Privacy, issued a statement saying the company will contact hundreds of millions of users to inform them of the breach.

"As part of a routine security review in January, we found that some user passwords were being stored in a readable format within our internal data storage systems," Canahuti says.

"This caught our attention because our login systems are designed to mask passwords using techniques that make them unreadable.

"We have fixed these issues and as a precaution we will be notifying everyone whose passwords we have found were stored in this way.

"To be clear, these passwords were never visible to anyone outside of Facebook and we have found no evidence to date that anyone internally abused or improperly accessed them.

"We estimate that we will notify hundreds of millions of Facebook Lite users, tens of millions of other Facebook users, and tens of thousands of Instagram users."

Facebook Lite is a version of the social network designed for people with older phones or low-speed internet connections, used primarily in developing countries. Facebook Lite launched in 2015 and Facebook bought Instagram in 2012.

Facebook has had major breaches in the past, most notably last September when hackers accessed more than 29 million accounts.

The latest security breach relating to passwords has raised questions about Facebook's ability to manage more complex encryption issues, like messaging.

Despite the assurances that there was no evidence of improper use of passwords, security experts have advised Facebook users to change their passwords.

Never miss a news update, subscribe here. Follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter.

Business News Australia

Get our daily business news

Sign up to our free email news updates.

Please tick to verify that you are not a robot

 

Help us deliver quality journalism to you.
As a free and independent news site providing daily updates
during a period of unprecedented challenges for businesses everywhere
we call on your support

Australian Millennial managers look to offshoring to solve global talent shortage problem
Partner Content
New research reveals that more than half of Australia’s next-gen leaders are cons...
Cloudstaff
Advertisement

Related Stories

AirSeed sprouts: Drone seed planter to raise up to $15m in Series A for ‘billion-dollar opportunity’

AirSeed sprouts: Drone seed planter to raise up to $15m in Series A for ‘billion-dollar opportunity’

Sydney-based AirSeed Technologies is looking to raise up to $1...

Latitude reveals nearly 8 million drivers licence numbers were stolen in cyber attack

Latitude reveals nearly 8 million drivers licence numbers were stolen in cyber attack

The fallout from a cyber attack on personal loans firm Latitude (AS...

Rise of no-code AI 'removing the need for the technical founder', says Fishburners CEO

Rise of no-code AI 'removing the need for the technical founder', says Fishburners CEO

Soft skills will be more important than ever for founders according...

Shining a spotlight on Australia’s ‘hidden gem’: Deep tech

Shining a spotlight on Australia’s ‘hidden gem’: Deep tech

From the creation of WiFi to the cochlear implant, Australian innov...