Facebook admits storing passwords in plain text
San Francisco, Mar 21: Facebook on Thursday admitted that millions of passwords were stored in plain text on its internal servers, a security slip that left them readable by the social networking giant's employees.
"To be clear, these passwords were never visible to anyone outside of Facebook and we have found no evidence to date that anyone internally abused or improperly accessed them," vice president of engineering, security, and privacy Pedro Canahuati said in a blog post.
The blunder was uncovered during a routine security review early this year, according to Canahuati.
He said that the Silicon Valley company expected to notify hundreds of millions of Facebook Lite users; tens of millions of other Facebook users, and tens of thousands of Instagram users whose passwords may have been vulnerable to prying eyes.
The basic security shortcoming was revealed on the heels of a series of controversies centered on whether Facebook properly safeguards the privacy and data of its users.
The basic data defense mistake would also appear contrary to the "Hacker Way" mantra that Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg has espoused at the social network.
"One Hacker Way" is the main address of Facebook's vast campus in the California city of Menlo Park.
Brian Krebs of security news website KrebsOnSecurity.com cited an unnamed Facebook source as saying the internal investigation had so far indicated that as many as 600 million users of the social network had account passwords stored in plain text files searchable by more than 20,000 employees.
The exact number has yet to be determined, but archives with unencrypted user passwords were found dating back to the year 2012, according to Krebs.
"We have fixed these issues and as a precaution we will be notifying everyone whose passwords we have found were stored in this way," Canahuati said.
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Jhanjarpur (Bihar), Apr 29: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday warned that a victory of the opposition INDIA bloc, “even by mistake”, will lead to a scramble among top leaders of the alliance for the prime minister’s post.
Shah claimed that leaders like M K Stalin, Sharad Pawar, Lalu Prasad and Mamata Banerjee may agree to a year each of premiership, by turns, and “Rahul baba (Rahul Gandhi) will have to settle for whatever is left of the tenure”.
In contrast, he said, “a third term for Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lead to elimination of corruption from the entire country, including Bihar, and eradication of casteism in the state”.
“Modi’s return to power is certain. But, suppose, even by mistake, if the INDIA alliance comes to power, what will happen? Who will be the prime minister? Will it be Stalin, Sharad Pawar, Mamata Banerjee or Rahul Gandhi? They will all settle for sharing the top post for a year each. Is it how the country can be run?” Shah said.
The senior BJP leader, who addressed election rallies in Jhanjharpur and Begusarai Lok Sabha constituencies of Bihar, also charged the opposition bloc with seeking restoration of triple talaq.
"Should we have triple talaq? INDI alliance leaders like Rahul Gandhi and Lalu Prasad say they will protect Muslim Personal Law. They should forget their plans. The BJP government will implement a Uniform Civil Code across the country,” Shah asserted.
Claiming that Modi’s victory and a third term in office were certain, he also cautioned against "political instability" that may follow if the INDIA coalition manages to form a government “even by mistake”.
"We need a leadership that is strong and not helpless. If the INDIA alliance comes to power... M K Stalin, Sharad Pawar, Mamata Banerjee, Lalu Prasad, all of them may become PM for a year each. Rahul baba will settle for whatever is left of the tenure,” Shah said.
The home minister, who is often credited with abrogation of Article 370, also accused the Congress and its allies with having protected special status to Jammu and Kashmir like an "auras Putra” (one's own offspring).
"Rahul Gandhi had tried to scare us by claiming that scrapping Article 370 will cause rivers of blood to flow. But, when the Modi government made the move, nobody even dared to throw a pebble,” said Shah.
Slamming Gandhi for his “new-found concern for OBCs”, the home minister said “the Congress party has always been against the Other Backward Classes. It had opposed the Mandal Commission. Modi has emerged from among the OBCs and the community has been empowered during his tenure as never before”.
He also showered encomiums on Modi for abrogation of Article 370 and strong counter-terrorism steps like surgical strikes in contrast with the previous Congress-led UPA regime, “when for 10 years, terrorists struck at will”.
Attacking the opposition for alleging misuse of central agencies, Shah said, “Should there be no action against the corrupt? Whoever is found guilty of swindling money meant for the poor people of the country, must be in jail”.
He also said the opposition camp had neither leaders nor resolve, alleging “Sonia Gandhi’s sole concern is making her son the prime minister, while Lalu Prasad wants to make his son the chief minister of Bihar”.
Shah alleged that the Congress and the RJD supremo did not give due respect to former Bihar CM Karpoori Thakur, but the BJP recognised his contribution and conferred the Bharat Ratna on him.
In Begusarai, where Union minister Giriraj Singh seeks to retain the seat for BJP, Shah mockingly referred to main rival CPI as "laal bhai" and urged the people to vote for the sitting MP "in huge numbers so that the next time they do not muster the courage to enter the fray".
