Facebook says hackers accessed personal data of 29 million users
Facebook Inc said on Friday attackers stole names and contact details of 29 million users in the mass security breach disclosed by the social media network late last month.
The breach, Facebook’s worst ever, has exacerbated concerns among users, lawmakers and investors that the company is not doing enough to safeguard data, particularly in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica data scandal.
Still, hackers neither accessed personal messages nor financial data and did not use Facebook logins to access other websites, all of which would have been a cause for greater concern. Facebook originally had said in late September hackers stole digital log-in codes to take over nearly 50 million user accounts.
On Friday, the company revealed that stolen data on 14 million users included birth dates, employers, education and lists of friends. For 15 million users, it was restricted to just name and contact details.
All of those could help a fraudster pose as Facebook, the employer or a friend. They could then craft a more sophisticated email aimed at tricking users into providing login information on a fake page or into clicking on an attachment that would infect their computers.
Facebook said it will send customised messages in the coming days to affected users to explain what information the attackers accessed and how they can protect themselves, including from suspicious emails, text messages or calls.
A company executive said on a conference call that Facebook will not provide country-by-country breakdowns of the affected users. The hackers used an automated program to move from account to account and harvest the data quickly.
“We’re cooperating with the FBI, which is actively investigating and asked us not to discuss who may be behind this attack,” Facebook said on a blog post https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2018/10/update-on-security-issue.
The social network in late September did not confirm if information had actually been stolen.
“There’s not much more that Facebook can do,” said Michael Pachter, an analyst with Wedbush Securities. “The stolen data is likely to be used by the hackers, so this problem is likely to persist for quite some time.”
Facebook’s latest vulnerability has existed since July 2017, but the company first identified it in mid-September after spotting a fairly large increase in use of its “view as” feature. It determined that it was an attack on Sept. 25.
“Within two days, we closed the vulnerability, stopped the attack and secured people’s accounts by restoring the access tokens for people who were potentially exposed,” Facebook said.
The “view as” feature allows users to check their privacy settings by giving them a glimpse of what their profile looks like to others. But a trio of errors in Facebook’s software enabled someone accessing the feature to post and browse from Facebook accounts of other users.
Facebook did not rule out the possibility of smaller-scale attacks and said it would continue to investigate.
Facebook shares fell 2.6 percent after the breach was announced last month and they were down 0.5 percent following the updated disclosures on Friday.
Courtesy: www.hindustantimes.com
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
French Open prize money up 10% to $72 million overall
Paris (AP): French Open prize money has increased by about 10% for an overall pot of 61.7 million euros ($72.1 million).
The total amount is up 5.3 million euros from last year. Play begins on Sunday, May 24 at Roland Garros in western Paris.
Men's and women's singles champions each receive 2.8 million euros and the runners-up 1.4 million euros. Semifinalists earn 750,000 euros and first round losers get 87,000 euros.
Men's and women's doubles winners pocket 600,000 euros and the mixed doubles champions get 122,000 euros.
Last year, Carlos Alcaraz staged an epic comeback to beat Jannik Sinner in a five-set final and Coco Gauff defeated Aryna Sabalenka for the women's title.
There will be an opening ceremony before the men's and women's finals, lasting about six minutes, with French choreographer Benjamin Millepied in charge of the program.
Also for the first time, players can wear data-collecting portable devices on court in order to gain information on their physical performances, tournament director Amélie Mauresmo said at a news conference on Thursday.
Privacy for playersMauresmo repeated the importance of privacy for players — an issue raised by Iga Swiatek and Gauff at this year's Australian Open.
Gauff's racket-smashing away from the court went viral. Swiatek said the seemingly limitless access-all-areas cameras that track players made them feel they were being watched like “animals in the zoo.”
Without mentioning the Australian Open itself, Mauresmo said tennis should “maintain respect for privacy” and have a secluded space.
“Players need a private area, something which will not change,” she said. “No cam access (there).”
Upholding traditionsThis year, a local amateur beat Sinner and went on to become a millionaire in Australian dollars after winning the newly invented 1 Point Slam at the Australian Open.
Don't expect it at the French Open.
“Our ambition is not to repeat everything that's done elsewhere," Mauresmo said. "This is not something that corresponds to us, to the image of Roland Garros."
The French Open is also unflinching on the electronic line-calling adopted by Wimbledon and most big tennis tournaments; instead remaining committed to human line judges.
“They are not 100% reliable,” Mauresmo said, "but our decision was to stick to our way.”
However, Mauresmo was open to women playing five-set matches like their male counterparts.
“You can't change a format overnight to go from best of three to best of five. But if we think about it, would it be only the semifinal, the final, or for all matches?" the former Wimbledon champion asked. “This could be a win-win situation but we have to talk about this with the women players.”
The former women's No. 1 would have wanted to.
“As a player when I did the Masters final (in 2005) they had just stopped this,” Mauresmo said. "I would have wanted to do the final in best of five. So maybe one day, you never know.”
Mauresmo was also asked about scheduling for evening matches.
“We will talk about scheduling when the time comes,” she said without going into details. “Nothing is closed and nothing is set in stone, it depends on the draws and the lineups.”
Last year there were a lack of women's matches during the night sessions.
On the final Saturday there has been one change: The men's doubles final will be played before the women's singles final and not afterward.
Entertaining fansThere will be a Jardin des Chefs — a chefs' garden — for fans to sample French gastronomy in an area next to Court Simonne-Mathieu. A small army of 13 French chefs will work daily, three on duty each day.
The famed Concorde Square — with its iconic Egyptian Obelisk — will again show matches on a big screen for free during the second week from June 3-7.
The tournament will pay tribute to French veteran Gaël Monfils and 2015 champion Stan Wawrinka, who are retiring at the end of the season.
Clay is the wayThe French Open is synonymous with clay the way Wimbledon is with grass.
Keen to build on that identity, French Tennis Federation director Gilles Moretton said there will be a strong investment in building more clay courts, real or synthetic.
Clay courts currently make up only 13% of courts in France.
