How to Know if Your Facebook Data Has Been Leaked

Millions of personal data exposed: who and how protect your data?

During the last few years we have all gotten used to using social networks and other platforms very quickly. This has led us to assume as normal having to provide certain personal data such as name and surname, place where you live, sex, marital status, studies, telephone number and of course the email with which you register.

And the truth is that it shouldn’t be like that, because why do many of these platforms need so much data. Well, you already know the answer: targeting and advertising. Because the more data any user service has, the easier it will be to offer them what they really want.

The problem is that there are companies whose only objective when collecting all this data is to obtain their own profit by exchanging it or selling it to a third party. There the first problem arises.

The second problem is that, assuming it’s not at all like this, how do they protect that data and what do they do in the event of a massive leak. According to both answers, you should ask yourself if it is worth using the service, if it is necessary to give them so much information and to what extent being real or fictitious could affect their use.

Because then there is a leak and with a bit of social engineering and other techniques it is very easy to trick many users into giving their credentials to different services, some of which are very sensitive. Such as, for example, bank access data, etc.

A leak of 500 million user accounts

The latest Facebook leak, for now, is already one of the largest suffered by the platform and affects more than 500 million user accounts in more than 106 countries. Only in Spain are 11 million affected.

With such data it is likely that if you are users of the service your data has also been exposed. Information such as full name and surname, telephone numbers, identity document, place of residence, etc.

According to Facebook, a large percentage of all that leaked data corresponds to a security problem that occurred in 2019 and that you still remember. What’s more, only a little over two and a half million accounts have actually been compromised. Therefore, despite the problem it poses, it seems that it would be “minor”. Because indeed many of those affected would have already changed these data at the time.

How to know if your Facebook data has been exposed

The database corresponding to this leak was offered in a complete way through the website of a group of hackers who asked in exchange for a payment for access. Now the same database could be obtained for free, although it was not something simple because you have to search. But anyone could decipher them and use them for whatever they wanted.

Therefore, as  verifying to what extent our account has been compromised or not is complex for most, it is best to resort to certain pages that have already been updated including said vulnerability.

Two of these solutions that will let you know if you have been affected by this or any other leak are  Firefox Monitor  and  Have I been pwned . Through these services you will only have to enter the email address that you used to register or log in. If they find any correspondence, they will tell you so you can act accordingly.

Therefore, it is not only great to see if you have suffered some kind of problem due to the Facebook leak, but also to see if you run some kind of risk because of other services and platforms.

How to protect your personal information on Facebook

Whether the data in your Facebook account has been exposed or not, the best thing you can do is take a series of measures that will help you protect your most personal information.

The first and basic thing from time to time is to change the password to access the social network . The second thing is to activate two-step verification , something that should be used whenever a platform or service offers it.

With these two steps we would already have the peace of mind that they will not be able to access the profile. Although if you receive a message or email indicating that you should reset your password, check well that it is not a phishing technique . For example, seeing what is the email address from which it is sent. Although in case of doubts it is best to access by typing the address of the platform yourself. In this case the Facebook address and then look for the option to change password.

From there, as we told you before, avoid sharing your phone number and other real personal data unless it is strictly necessary and provides some kind of benefit. If you can, use a second email address to access all those services that are not really essential. It also tries not to use personal information to generate an access pin or password.

With all this and a lot of common sense, you shouldn’t have any problem when using this or any other social network.