Experts On 350,000 Social Media Influencers And Users At Risk Following Data Breach

While people generally focus on breaches that involve passwords, credit card numbers, or other financial details, breaches of this magnitude that compromise a significant amount of personal information cannot be ignored. It is important to understand that not only was the information about the individual stolen, but other data such as Facebook friend lists and additional data that could even put others at risk. Given the volume of information lost here, it is important that the organization contact victims as soon as possible and that they provide a statement about the breach, something they have not done yet. The practice of doxing, or releasing personal information about people's addresses, phone numbers or even employers, has long been looked upon as grievous offence in the cybersecurity community due to the potential impact is can have on the victims. This breach has released the same information about hundreds of thousands of victims who also are now at risk. The 253,051 records that contain information such as Facebook account names and associated friend lists is a gold mine for social engineers. This information can be used to create fake lookalike accounts that can then be used to attack these friends. It is not uncommon to see these attacks used, often through a friend request or a message request that makes the user believe they are speaking to the real person, to spread malware or perpetrate other scams. These victims of the breach should be very vigilant toward future emails, text messages and phone calls, as these are prime attack techniques for this type of information.  Read Less

While people generally focus on breaches that involve passwords, credit card numbers, or other financial details, breaches of this magnitude that compromise a significant amount of personal information cannot be ignored. It is important to understand that not only was the information about the individual stolen, but other data such as Facebook friend lists and additional data that could even put others at risk. Given the volume of information lost here, it is important that the organisation contact victims as soon as possible and that they provide a statement about the breach, something they have not done yet. The practice of doxing, or releasing personal information about people's addresses, phone numbers or even employers, has long been looked upon as grievous offence in the cybersecurity community due to the potential impact it can have on the victims. This breach has released the same information about hundreds of thousands of victims who also are now at risk. The 253,051 records that contain information such as Facebook account names and associated friend lists is a gold mine for social engineers. This information can be used to create fake lookalike accounts that can then be used to attack these friends. It is not uncommon to see these attacks used, often through a friend request or a message request that makes the user believe they are speaking to the real person, to spread malware or perpetrate other scams. These victims of the breach should be very vigilant toward future emails, text messages and phone calls, as these are prime attack techniques for this type of information.  Read Less