Updated April 5th, 2021 at 17:14 IST

Facebook Data Leak: How to check if your account details were leaked in the massive hack?

Facebook recently suffered a massive data leak hack that affected 533 million users. Know how you can check if your data has been leaked.

Reported by: Sakshat Kolhatkar
Image Source: Unsplash | Image:self
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Facebook recently suffered a very large-scale user data breach. As per Bloomberg, data of at least 533 million Facebook accounts was leaked on Saturday. Ironically, the private data of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg was also leaked in that breach. This confidential information had become vulnerable back in January and hackers pounced on the huge leaked database. The leaked database of these 533 million people includes details like phone numbers, email IDs, photos and other details. Read on to know how you can check if your personal data has been breached in this leak or other leaks in the past. 

Facebook Data Leak: How to check if your data has been leaked?

Fortunately, there are a few reliable cybersecurity websites that can help you to locate possible breaches of your personal information. One such popular website is haveibeenpwned.com. Here are the steps you can use to see if your personal data has been breached. 

  • Go to the URL: haveibeenpwned.com on your mobile or computer device. 
  • Enter your email id in the search bar and press Enter
  • After entering, you will see a complete list of leaked databases where your email was leaked. The website will also give you a list of companies that have your data and have been breached in the past. 
  • If your email has been compromised the website will give you a warning to immediately change your password and enable two-factor authentication on your account so that no one other than you can get access to your account, even if they have your credentials. 

If your personal identity documents have been leaked as well, update and change them as soon as possible, or you might be at the risk of an identity theft scam, as hackers can use your documents for illegal purposes. Keep changing your passwords to everything every few months. Make sure you keep your documents like passport, driver's license, and identity documents safe and updated.

It's also advisable to use a password manager to take care of all your passwords. A few good password manager services are 1password, LastPass or Keeper. These are paid services that automatically create and store incredibly complex passwords which are very hard to hack for their users. However, if your data has been already leaked, you will have to be really careful not to fall for scammers who might try to use your information for the wrong reasons. 

Facebook Hack: Facebook Data Leak Download

The Facebook hack has exposed data of around 533 million members around the world. Data from people of as many as 106 countries have been leaked. Around 32 million records were leaked from the US, 11 million from the UK and about 6 million in India. The exposed information includes data such as user location, full names, birthdays, biodata, email ids and passwords and phone numbers.

Image Source: Unsplash

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Published April 5th, 2021 at 17:14 IST