Were you logged out of Facebook today? Well, you were among 90 million whose accounts were breached
San Francisco, Sep 28 : In the biggest-ever security breach after Cambridge Analytica scandal, Facebook on Friday admitted hackers broke into nearly 50 million users' accounts by stealing their "access tokens" or digital keys.
This allowed them to steal Facebook access tokens which they could then use to take over people's accounts, Facebook said in a statement.
Access tokens are the equivalent of digital keys that keep people logged in to Facebook so they do not need to re-enter their password every time they use the app.
"Our investigation is still in its early stages. But it's clear that attackers exploited a vulnerability in Facebook's code that impacted 'View As', a feature that lets people see what their own profile looks like to someone else," said Guy Rosen, VP of Product Management.
Facebook security team discovered the security issue on September 25, and it has now fixed the vulnerability and informed the law enforcement.
"We have reset the access tokens of the almost 50 million accounts we know were affected to protect their security.
"We're also taking the precautionary step of resetting access tokens for another 40 million accounts that have been subject to a 'View As' look-up in the last year," Facebook said.
As a result, around 90 million people will now have to log back into Facebook, or any of their apps that use Facebook login.
After they have logged back in, people will get a notification at the top of their News Feed explaining what happened.
"We're temporarily turning off the 'View As' feature while we conduct a thorough security review," Facebook said.
This attack exploited the complex interaction of multiple issues in Facebook code.
"The attackers not only needed to find this vulnerability and use it to get an access token, they then had to pivot from that account to others to steal more tokens," it said.
Facebook said it does not know who is behind this massive security attack.
"We're working hard to better understand these details and "we will update this post when we have more information, or if the facts change," said the company.
In the Cambridge Analytica scandal, data of nearly 87 million people was breached upon.
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Bihar: Over 150 children fall ill after consuming 'mid-day meal' in Saharsa
Saharsa (PTI): More than 150 children were taken ill after allegedly consuming food that was part of the mid-day meal in a school in Bihar’s Saharsa district, a senior official said on Thursday.
The incident occurred at a middle school in Baluaha village of the district.
The official said that 115 children were undergoing treatment at the Sadar Hospital, while around 50 students were admitted to Mahishi Public Health Centre.
“We received information that several children fell ill after consuming the mid-day meal in Baluaha. The children were initially treated at the primary health centre, but later, many were referred to the Sadar Hospital,” Saharsa District Magistrate Deepesh Kumar told reporters.
“According to doctors, the health condition of the children has improved, but they will be kept under observation for some time. There is no need to panic. Some kids are having mild fever. They are being treated accordingly,” Kumar said.
Meanwhile, family members of some children claimed that a snake was found in the container in which cooked pulses was stored at the school.
Of the 545 students present in the school, 200 had already eaten their meals by the time the snake was spotted, and later complained of stomach ache and vomiting, they said.
Regarding the claims, the DM said food samples have been collected from the school.
“We will be able to comment on this only after the results of the tested samples arrive,” he said.
