UPDATE: 30 million Facebook users hacked

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Facebook updated the public Friday on a massive hack that exposed the personal information of millions of its users. The Facebook data breach that happened two weeks ago affected 30 million accounts, which is less than the 50 million initially reported by the social media giant.

The Menlo Park, California-based company said that it has been working around the clock to investigate the breach, but one of the most disconcerting things is that Facebook is still unable to pinpoint who the hacker(s) were.

Data breach: Facebook says 30 million users hacked

People can check whether they were affected by visiting our Help Center. In the coming days, we’ll send customized messages to the 30 million people affected to explain what information the attackers might have accessed, as well as steps they can take to help protect themselves, including from suspicious emails, text messages, or calls,” Facebook said in the update.

“This attack did not include Messenger, Messenger Kids, Instagram, WhatsApp, Oculus, Workplace, Pages, payments, third-party apps, or advertising or developer accounts. As we look for other ways the people behind this attack used Facebook, as well as the possibility of smaller-scale attacks, we’ll continue to cooperate with the FBI, the US Federal Trade Commission, Irish Data Protection Commission, and other authorities.”

If you were logged out of your Facebook account and prompted to log back on, it’s because of a “security issue,” the social network said Friday. Facebook has been hacked, affecting nearly 50 million users.

The hack is just the latest controversy to hit the social networking giant. In March, Facebook was embroiled in a massive data sharing scandal involving a controversial firm called Cambridge Analytica.

The company accessed people’s information under questionable circumstances via a third-party app inside Facebook. As a result, the social networking site’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg was chastised by lawmakers in Washington.

Earlier this year, a Reuters/Ipsos online poll that gauged how Americans feel about tech companies’ use of people’s data found that just 41% of them trust Facebook to obey U.S. privacy laws. Other tech companies fared much better, with 62% of poll respondents saying that Amazon had their confidence and 60% giving Google and Microsoft their trust.

Money expert Clark Howard has always warned his listeners to be careful with social media. Here are two tried-and-true tips on cybersecurity safety:

  • Don’t overshare: Your data can be used and abused
  • Don’t accept friend requests from people you don’t know: You cannot easily safeguard yourself from someone once you’re connected to them on Facebook
Keep up to date with the latest cybersecurity tips and more at Clark.com. Subscribe to our newsletter and follow us on Twitter and Facebook!

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