Up to 50m Facebook accounts at risk in security breach
The BBC is reporting that Facebook has said that almost 50 million of its users were left exposed by a security flaw.
The company said attackers were able to exploit a vulnerability in a feature known as “View As” to gain control of people’s accounts….
The company has confirmed to reporters that the breach would allow hackers to log in to other accounts that use Facebook’s system, of which there are many.
This means other major sites, such as AirBnB and Tinder, may also be affected…
…Facebook’s “View As” function is a privacy feature that allows people to see what their own profile looks to other users, making it clear what information is viewable to their friends, friends of friends, or the public.
Attackers found multiple bugs in this feature that “allowed them to steal Facebook access tokens, which they could then use to take over people’s accounts”, Mr Rosen explained.
“Access tokens are the equivalent of digital keys that keep people logged in to Facebook so they don’t need to re-enter their password every time they use the app,” he added…
Read more at Facebook security breach: Up to 50m accounts attacked