Facebook Security Breach: Here's how the users are reacting

After Facebook announced a massive data breach on Friday, September 28, 2018, users around the world are baffled and are trying to figure out what's next. Guy Rosen, the VP of Product Management of Facebook gave out the statement revealing that on the afternoon of Tuesday, September 25, their engineering team discovered a security issue that is affecting the accounts of almost 50 million users in the platform.

Here's how to know if your account is hacked:

Facebook said in a statement that if the user is being logged out of their account and asked to sign back in, it might be because their account is compromised. 

Users around the globe have expressed their insecurities and asked the company what to do next. In the time when the social media accounts of the users are interlinked, they are unsure about what all data connected to their Facebook account is accessible to the hackers. They are worried about their personal information being compromised. 

Here's what users have to say about the data breach:

 

 

 

 

Here's what exactly happened:

In an official statement, the company revealed that the data breach happened as the attackers exploited a vulnerability in Facebook’s code that impacted “View As”, a feature that lets people see what their own profile looks like to someone else. The company stated that this allowed them to steal Facebook access tokens which they could then use to take over people’s accounts. 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.

However, Facebook has stated that they are taking the matter incredibly seriously and investigation on the same is underway. They further assured that immediate action will be taken to protect people’s security. As initial actions, Facebook has claimed to have fixed the vulnerability issue and informed law enforcement. They said they have also reset the access tokens of the almost 50 million accounts that the company was aware of being affected. They have also temporarily turned off the “View As” feature as they conduct the security review.  

Here's what to do next:

Facebook in his statement further stated that there is no need for anyone to change their passwords. People who have been logged out of their account and has forgotten their login password should visit the Help Center for further assistance. It further stated that people who want to log out from the social media platform as a precautionary measure should visit the “Security and Login” section in the settings. From there one can easily log out from all places they are logged into via Facebook.