Facebook Data Breach

What happened?

In April 2021, a large data set of over 500 million Facebook users was made freely available for download . Encompassing approximately 20% of Facebook's subscribers, the data was allegedly obtained by exploiting a vulnerability Facebook advises they rectified in August 2019. The primary value of the data is the association of phone numbers to identities; whilst each record included phone, only 2.5 million contained an email address. Most records contained names and genders with many also including dates of birth, location, relationship status and employer.

When did it happen?

The breach date in the public record is August 1, 2019. The record was added to the catalogue on April 4, 2021 and last updated there on April 6, 2021.

What information was reported as exposed?

• Dates of birth
• Email addresses
• Employers
• Genders
• Geographic locations
• Names
• Phone numbers
• Relationship statuses

These are incident-level categories. The record does not prove that every category was exposed for every affected person.

Who may be affected?

This record may be relevant to people who had an account or other relationship with Facebook or used facebook.com around August 1, 2019. A catalogue entry does not establish that every customer was affected or that every listed data category applied to each person. Compare the record with an official notice addressed to you.

What should you do?

Choose actions that match the information involved. If you find signs that someone is using your identity, the Federal Trade Commission provides a personal recovery plan at IdentityTheft.gov.