Facebook Security Breach

Facebook Security Breach
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Facebook Security Breach
Facebook is one of the companies recently affected by a security breach. A hacker accessed their system and scraped personal data for over 500 million users (Insider, 2021). The breach occurred in 2019, and Facebook has since patched the vulnerability that made the scraping possible (Insider, 2021). Despite the patching, the hacker posted the data into a low-level hacking platform, meaning that confidential data for over 500 million users is accessible to hackers. The data included email addresses, user IDS, phone numbers, location, and residential addresses in some cases. This data can potentially be used by black hat hackers for impersonation and perpetrating social engineering campaigns. Facebook is a reputable company, and such a breach sends some jitters to the platform users. The breached information is enormous and could significantly reduce the trust that most users had entrusted on Facebook.
Securing information is so vital for individuals and businesses. In contemporary society, where cyber-attacks are ubiquitous, securing information prevents it from being stolen/ accessed by unauthorized users. Evidence has shown that unauthorized access could have far-reaching ramifications for individuals and businesses (Rainer & Prince, 2021). For example, business risk losing their long build reputation in case a security breach occurs and the personal data of customers is accessed. Additionally, dealing with a data breach is almost always a time-consuming and cost-intensive operation. Further, access to personal data may also be used in illegal practices such as social engineering attacks. In some worst-case scenarios, a security breach may lead to the loss of data which could be devastating for both individuals and businesses. In light of these observations, it is clear that it is essenti...