Facebook believes spammers behind hack – report

Victor Barreiro Jr.

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Facebook believes spammers behind hack – report

AFP

People familiar with the company's internal investigation say Facebook doesn't think the hack was done by a nation-state

MANILA, Philippines – Facebook believes the massive hack that took the data of millions of its users was the work of spammers.

In a report on The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday, October 17 (Thursday, October 18, Manila time), the attack was said to be orchestrated to let spammers make money using deceptive advertising, according to people who were familiar with the company’s internal investigation. 

Facebook believes the culprits are from a group of Facebook and Instagram spammers who present themselves as digital marketers. The sources said the group was known to Facebook’s security team.

The sources added Facebook does not believe it to be the work of a nation-state.

Facebook has been investigating the breach since it was first announced in late September, when it was originally said to have affected 50 million accounts. The company later revised the total number of affected accounts to around 29 million

Of the 29 million affected, Facebook disclosed to the National Privacy Commission (NPC) that 755,973 accounts were in the Philippines.

Some 387,322 accounts had basic profile information compromised, made up of the following:

  • registered full name
  • email address
  • phone number if one was associated with the account

Another 361,227 accounts had that basic information taken, along with the following other details:

  • nickname
  • gender
  • language chosen by user
  • relationship status
  • religion
  • hometown
  • location
  • birthday
  • devices used with Facebook
  • educational background
  • work
  • website listed on profile
  • verified status information
  • list of recent location check-ins
  • recent search queries
  • the top 500 accounts that the user follows

For a third group of 7,424 users, their posts, friends list, and groups they belong to may have also been exposed in addition to the information seen in the other two groups above.

Hackers may have also seen the names of who they have been talking to recently on Messenger.

To find out if you’re among those whose personal data were accessed by the hackers, log on to Facebook and go to the Facebook Help Center link here– Rappler.com

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Victor Barreiro Jr.

Victor Barreiro Jr is part of Rappler's Central Desk. An avid patron of role-playing games and science fiction and fantasy shows, he also yearns to do good in the world, and hopes his work with Rappler helps to increase the good that's out there.