NEW YORK (AP) — The Latest on Facebook security breach (all times local):
1:50 p.m.
Facebook says it has gotten a handle on a security breach affecting nearly 30 million accounts, but it hasn’t ruled out the possibility of smaller-scale efforts to exploit the same vulnerability.
Facebook is offering a website for people to check if their accounts have been accessed, and if so, exactly what information was stolen. It will also provide guidance on how to spot and deal with suspicious emails or texts. Facebook will also send messages directly to those people.
Facebook says it has already fixed the vulnerability, which stemmed from three distinct bugs in Facebook’s code.
On Friday, Facebook pinned the number of accounts accessed at 29 million, fewer than the 50 million it initially believed were affected when it disclosed the breach two weeks ago.
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1:10 p.m.
Facebook says the FBI is investigating a major security breach of its service, but the company says authorities asked it not to discuss who may be behind the attack.
That suggests Facebook may know or suspect who’s behind the breach. When Facebook disclosed the breach two weeks ago, company officials said they didn’t know who was behind the attacks or where they might be based.
Facebook is disclosing for the first time that hackers accessed data from 29 million accounts as part of the breach. The exact number hadn’t been known before. Originally Facebook said 50 million accounts could have been affected, but Facebook didn’t know if they had been misused.
Facebook says third-party apps and Facebook apps like WhatsApp and Instagram are unaffected.
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1 p.m.
Facebook says hackers accessed data from 29 million accounts as part of the security breach disclosed two weeks ago.
The exact number hadn’t been known before. Originally Facebook said 50 million accounts could have been affected, but Facebook didn’t know if they had been misused.
The hackers accessed name, email addresses or phone numbers from those 29 million accounts. For 14 million of those accounts, hackers got even more data, such as hometown, birthdate, the last 10 places they checked into or 15 most recent searches. One million accounts were affected but hackers didn’t gain information. The social media service plans to send messages to people whose accounts were hacked.
Facebook says third-party apps and Facebook apps like WhatsApp and Instagram were unaffected by the breach.