Hacker forum released 533 million Facebook users’ mobile phone numbers for free
A few days ago, hackers released 533 million Facebook users’ phone numbers for free on underground hacker forums. The original database was sold at a surprisingly high price, but it has now been released for free.
This data was mainly captured by hackers using Facebook vulnerabilities in 2019, and it mainly includes Facebook user accounts and corresponding mobile phone numbers, as well as the user’s gender.
Facebook has also issued a statement acknowledging that this database is valid, but the company actually has no way to prevent these databases from continuing to leak.
Facebook uses mobile phone numbers to help users match their relatives and friends in their lives, so as long as Facebook is granted permission to read the address book, real users can be matched.
The initially matched 533 million real users and other data associated with their mobile phone numbers were compiled into a database, and then sold on hacker forums at extremely high prices.
But with the passage of time, the spread of this database has become more and more popular, and the price has naturally become lower and lower. The lowest price was only $2.19 until now it is released for free.
Anyone can directly download this database to read the user number in it and can retrieve the user by mobile phone number or search the number by user name.
The media also contacted Facebook to ask to the problem of this database being publicly circulated again, and then Facebook officially responded that this database is indeed true and effective.
A Facebook spokesperson stated that this database is old data on security incidents in 2019. The company has promptly repaired related vulnerabilities after discovering the problem.
The database even contains the mobile phone numbers of Facebook co-founders Mark Zuckerberg, Chris Hughes, and Dustin Moskovitz.
However, the company is unwilling to make other responses. After all, these databases cannot be recovered after leaks, and it is even impossible for hundreds of millions of users to change their numbers.
The security company believes that even though this database is old data, it still poses a threat. Hackers, especially scam groups, may use these phone numbers for phishing scams.
Via: bleepingcomputer
