Data Breach Alert: Personal Data of Over 500 Million Facebook Users Leaked
On Saturday April 6, 2021, a user in a hacking forum posted personal information of over 500 million Facebook users, including over 32 million users in the United States. The leaked data includes phone numbers, Facebook IDs, full names, locations, birthdates, bios, and, in some cases, email addresses. Facebook reports that the posted data comes from an earlier data breach that occurred in 2019 and they have addressed that security flaw, which lead to the breach in August of that same year. This may mean users who joined Facebook after August 2019 are unlikely to have been affected by this breach.
What This Means
When a site is breached, your personal information can be accessed by hackers and can be made publicly available on the internet. Any information of a person has a chance to be exposed, no matter how secure the site can be.
How to Protect Yourself
There is no guaranteed way to prevent identity theft, however, there are certain actions you can take to protect yourself and limit your risk. Change all your passwords periodically, check your credit card and bank statements consistently, and use a credit monitoring service. Use these precautionary steps to reduce your risk of identity theft, and follow us on social media for future data breach alerts.
Stay Informed:
Follow us on social media to stay up-to-date on any other breaking news and information regarding identity theft.
Click here to learn more about our protection plans and to enroll in PrivacyGuard to receive valuable benefits that help protect your identity.