Facebook Announces Data Breach Affecting More Than 50 Million Users
The breach occurred through the site's 'View As' feature, and could open it up to substantial legal exposure.
September 28, 2018 at 01:41 PM
3 minute read
The original version of this story was published on Legal Tech News
Facebook has seen a number of legal troubles in recent days, from gender bias claims over advertising practices to content moderators alleging they were traumatized by graphic images. But on Friday, the company announced what could blossom into its biggest legal issue to date: a data breach that affects more than 50 million users.
On a post on the company's blog, authored by Facebook vice president of product management Guy Rosen, the social network announced that it had discovered a security breach affecting almost 50 million accounts on Tuesday, Sept. 25. Facebook said it has already fixed the vulnerability and informed law enforcement of the issue.
Rosen said the vulnerability occurred through a Facebook feature called “View As,” which allows users to see what their own profile looks to someone else. “This allowed them to steal Facebook access tokens which they could then use to take over people's accounts,” Rosen wrote. “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.”
Facebook has reset the access tokens to those 50 million accounts it knows were affected, and is currently investigating an additional 40 million accounts. It is also turning off the “View As” feature until further notice.
“Since we've only just started our investigation, we have yet to determine whether these accounts were misused or any information accessed,” Rosen added. “We also don't know who's behind these attacks or where they're based. We're working hard to better understand these details — and we will update this post when we have more information, or if the facts change.”
A number of technology companies have been asked to pay up lately due to legal liability incurred from data breaches. Earlier this week, Uber settled for $148 million to resolve lawsuits brought by various states over a 2016 data breach. Yahoo settled a series of data breach class actions last week as well, for which it had set aside $47 million in retribution and an approved $80 million for related shareholder lawsuits.
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View AllCalifornia Becomes 2nd State to Give Brain Waves Data Privacy Protections, With Mixed Reaction
Are Brain Waves the New Data Privacy Frontier? Novel Colorado Law Says Yes
Meta, Apple, Now OpenAI: Is Ireland Really a 'Business Friendly' Data Privacy Beachhead?
5 minute readTrending Stories
- 1Call for Nominations: Elite Trial Lawyers 2025
- 2Senate Judiciary Dems Release Report on Supreme Court Ethics
- 3Senate Confirms Last 2 of Biden's California Judicial Nominees
- 4Morrison & Foerster Doles Out Year-End and Special Bonuses, Raises Base Compensation for Associates
- 5Tom Girardi to Surrender to Federal Authorities on Jan. 7
Who Got The Work
Michael G. Bongiorno, Andrew Scott Dulberg and Elizabeth E. Driscoll from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr have stepped in to represent Symbotic Inc., an A.I.-enabled technology platform that focuses on increasing supply chain efficiency, and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The case, filed Oct. 2 in Massachusetts District Court by the Brown Law Firm on behalf of Stephen Austen, accuses certain officers and directors of misleading investors in regard to Symbotic's potential for margin growth by failing to disclose that the company was not equipped to timely deploy its systems or manage expenses through project delays. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton, is 1:24-cv-12522, Austen v. Cohen et al.
Who Got The Work
Edmund Polubinski and Marie Killmond of Davis Polk & Wardwell have entered appearances for data platform software development company MongoDB and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The action, filed Oct. 7 in New York Southern District Court by the Brown Law Firm, accuses the company's directors and/or officers of falsely expressing confidence in the company’s restructuring of its sales incentive plan and downplaying the severity of decreases in its upfront commitments. The case is 1:24-cv-07594, Roy v. Ittycheria et al.
Who Got The Work
Amy O. Bruchs and Kurt F. Ellison of Michael Best & Friedrich have entered appearances for Epic Systems Corp. in a pending employment discrimination lawsuit. The suit was filed Sept. 7 in Wisconsin Western District Court by Levine Eisberner LLC and Siri & Glimstad on behalf of a project manager who claims that he was wrongfully terminated after applying for a religious exemption to the defendant's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The case, assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Anita Marie Boor, is 3:24-cv-00630, Secker, Nathan v. Epic Systems Corporation.
Who Got The Work
David X. Sullivan, Thomas J. Finn and Gregory A. Hall from McCarter & English have entered appearances for Sunrun Installation Services in a pending civil rights lawsuit. The complaint was filed Sept. 4 in Connecticut District Court by attorney Robert M. Berke on behalf of former employee George Edward Steins, who was arrested and charged with employing an unregistered home improvement salesperson. The complaint alleges that had Sunrun informed the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection that the plaintiff's employment had ended in 2017 and that he no longer held Sunrun's home improvement contractor license, he would not have been hit with charges, which were dismissed in May 2024. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer, is 3:24-cv-01423, Steins v. Sunrun, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Greenberg Traurig shareholder Joshua L. Raskin has entered an appearance for boohoo.com UK Ltd. in a pending patent infringement lawsuit. The suit, filed Sept. 3 in Texas Eastern District Court by Rozier Hardt McDonough on behalf of Alto Dynamics, asserts five patents related to an online shopping platform. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, is 2:24-cv-00719, Alto Dynamics, LLC v. boohoo.com UK Limited.
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250