It happened again: Facebook’s security was broken again. This time, 533 million Facebook accounts have had their privacy violated. In this way, personal information such as phone numbers was disclosed for public display on the Internet.
In this way, these 533 million users appeared in a list on the dark web accessible to various cybercriminals. Although the most commonly disclosed information is the phone number, in some cases other data such as email or workplace has emerged.
Of these 533 million accounts, 11 million were Spanish accounts. This means that if you are a Facebook user, it is highly likely that your name is on this list.
There are ways to find out if you are one of the Facebook accounts that was leaked in this latest massive social media leak. We explain how.
Check if your data has been disclosed
The key is to the Have I been pwned? Website, a website that has offered free service for years to those who want to know whether their information has been disclosed or not.
The website was created by a Microsoft security analyst who has publicly confirmed that he does not store records of searches performed on his website.
You just have to access, have I been pwned? via the link and, in this case, write your phone number. An email was normally required to be able to see which accounts linked to that email were disclosed.
However, like in this latest massive Facebook leak, it was the phone number that was leaked in any case, was I pwned? added the ability to search for your phone number in the list.
When you type in your phone number and hit the “pwned?” A message will appear in green (good news) or red (bad). In my case, I was fortunate enough not to have seen my data compromised.
However, when composing my email, I verify that my data has been disclosed four times due to security breaches in different online accounts that I opened with this same email (Facebook does not appear not among them).
What if my personal information has been disclosed?
If, after entering your phone number, the message “oh no – pwned!” Appears, there is not much you can do. You can choose to change your mobile phone number if it makes you feel more secure, but it’s sure that many will just want to keep the same number.
However, be on the lookout for possible scams and phone scams because if your number has appeared on any of these cybercriminal lists, you could be in the spotlight. We recommend that you check out this article on how to protect yourself from online scams.
On the other hand, if your email is what has been compromised, the solution is simpler. The first thing to do is to change the password as it might also have been leaked.
You may even consider changing your email address, which is less work than changing your phone number. In that case, you’ll like to check out the different options available to you for opening a new email account.
There are options to create very secure email accounts. For example, the email company ProtonMail offers end-to-end encryption and the ability to create an account anonymously.
On the other hand, you can also start using a VPN connection. It doesn’t give you one hundred percent protection from potential leaks, as it usually depends on the company you’re creating the account with and trusting your information.
However, whenever we talk about online security and privacy, it seems necessary to remember the importance and usefulness of using a VPN connection.
VPNs are often used to access content from other countries by changing the location of the IP address. However, they also offer other benefits such as the ability to browse the internet much more securely and anonymously. In other words, if you are concerned about the privacy of your data while browsing the internet, it is recommended that you use a VPN.
.
