National Privacy Commission probing alleged large-scale Facebook breach

MANILA, Philippines — The National Privacy Commission (NPC) has started validating information alleging that a large-scale breach has compromised 879,699 Facebook accounts of Filipinos.

According to an NPC statement, its initial information shows that data leaked includes phone numbers, full names, location, e-mail address, and biographical information of users across several countries.

The breach was said to affect 533 million users of the social media platform worldwide.

The NPC has already reached out to the data privacy officer of Facebook in the Philippines to gather more information.

“As we await more answers, we highly encourage Facebook users to be more cautious online. We reiterate the need for the regular changing of passwords and the activation of two-step authentication of accounts to safeguard their personal information,” the agency said.

“We assure the public that the NPC is on top of this matter,” it added.

https://www.facebook.com/privacy.gov.ph/posts/3135647673384974

In 2019, Facebook allegedly found and fixed a vulnerability that allowed hackers to download more than 533 million user account details.

The issue reportedly reemerged online when someone posted more than 533 million user accounts including the 879,699 users from the Philippines.

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