Facebook Data Breach Reveals Contact Info for 6 Million Users

By Gilbert Falso :: 5:51 PM

Facebook today admitted that a data breach in its archive tool compromised contact details for 6 million of the social network’s users.

Phone numbers and email addresses that were stored for use in Facebook’s recommendation algorithms were attached to contacts in Facebook accounts. When a user downloaded their Facebook data archive, that contact information was also included in the data download.

Users were able to see contact information for people who, in some cases, they were not friends with, or connected with on Facebook.

In most cases, an individual telephone number or email address was only disclosed once, and only to one downloader. In addition, no financial details or credit card data was leaked in the breach.

“We currently have no evidence that this bug has been exploited maliciously,” a Facebook spokesperson said, “and we have not received complaints from users or seen anomalous behavior on the tool or site to suggest wrongdoing.”

Facebook is currently notifying affected users by email.