Facebook Security Breach Again? Admits 100 Developers Accessed User Data Inappropriately

Social media giant Facebook has admitted a possible security breach yet again. It said on Tuesday that nearly 100 software developers improperly accessed its user data, which included names and profile pictures of people.

However, it did not specify the details in terms of the number of Facebook account information compromised or demographics.

According to reports, Facebook noticed that some apps still retained access to user data despite changes to check such violations, per a Facebook blog post.

“Although we’ve seen no evidence of abuse, we will ask them to delete any member data they may have retained and we will conduct audits to confirm that it has been deleted,” the company blog post noted.

In September, Facebook claimed that it had suspended thousands of apps after investigating its software developer ecosystem in the aftermath of the Cambridge Analytica scandal involving data loss.

The latest data breach has been reported despite Facebook’s claim of having curbed developers' access to user data after the Cambridge Analytica episode. The allegation involved the consultancy having used the data of 87 million Facebook users to influence the outcome of the 2016 U.S. presidential elections.

In July this year, Facebook agreed to pay a whopping $5 billion as a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission after the agency started probing the company over the Cambridge Analytica scam.

In the latest update, Mark Zuckerberg-led company assured that it has stopped all unauthorized access to data and reached out to 100 developer partners suspected of the breach. It is not clear the data also involved Facebook login information.

Expanding user base

As per the third quarter IR update provided by Facebook on October 30, globally, the social media major has over 2.45 billion monthly active users (MAU) as of September 2019.

This is a 9 percent increase over last year and for Q1 2019 Facebook had 2.38 billion MAUs. Facebook has 43,030 employees as of September 30, 2019, and is an increase of 28 percent year-over-year.

Facebook stock was down 0.2 percent in the last trading session on November 2.

Concern over Facebook advertisements

Meanwhile, CEO Mark Zuckerberg met many critics of the social network over dinner at his eBay residence on Monday night. Several American civil rights leaders were part of the meeting.

Zuckerberg heard out the concerns of critics who wanted more action on the company’s handling of hate speech and sought changes in its policy of zero fact-checking on ads from politicians.

Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg and Facebook exec Nick Clegg were also present.

Rashad Robinson, president of Color of Change told CNN that Zuckerberg appeared “deeply engaged from start to finish.”

According to Rev. Al Sharpton, the exemption for politicians on Facebook is a matter of concern and could be used to “suppress voting and wrong messaging.”