What Is a Facebook Password Breach and How To Prevent It

• What was exposed from the Facebook password breach?
• How to Secure Your Sensitive Data
• How to Generate a Secure Password and Update It in Your Passwarden Storage
• Benefits of Using Passwarden and How It Will Safeguard Your Data

Facebook, one of the world’s biggest and most popular social media platforms, had reported several data breaches exposing users’ information in the past few years. According to the media report, the Facebook password breach incidents resulted in user information being exposed online. The latest incident was reported in April 2021.

What has happened?

According to the report, one low-level hacking forum user had published for free the personal data of over 500 million Facebook users. 

This is not the first time that Facebook users’ information was found exposed online. Another breach was uncovered in 2019 which led to millions of phone numbers being scraped from Facebook servers. After such incidents, security researchers say that hackers can use the data to impersonate others and commit cyber fraud.

A Facebook spokesperson says that “the data had been scrapped because of a vulnerability that the company patched in 2019”.

What was exposed from the Facebook password breach?

Much personal information was believed to have been exposed from the incident. The leaked information is believed to have involved phone numbers, Facebook account ID, users’ full names, users’ locations, users’ birthdays, biographical information, and in some cases, users’ email addresses.

According to the press, this time, the exposed data contains personal information of more than 533 million Facebook users that are from 106 countries, from which over 32 million were recorded on users in the US, 11 million were recorded on users in the UK, and another 6 million were recorded on users in India.

How to Secure Your Sensitive Data

As we are living in a technology era, the internet has gradually reshaped our entertainment, our work, and our lives. A lot of work cannot be done without networks today, it has brought many conveniences to our lives and has become an indispensable part of our lives. Living in a world like that, we all understand the importance of our private information and how it may put us at risk if this information has been misused.

That’s why an incident like the Facebook password breach is something no one wants to experience. However, if such an incident ever occurs to you, we have several recommendations:

1. Change your passwords immediately. At the same time, you should check whether you have used the same password on different platforms. If that’s the case, you probably should change them all.
2. Remember to back up your data. We recommend that you always backup your important information, it is a good practice to do, in that case, even if you are facing some unpredicted events, your important information is still accessible.
3. Use 2-factor authentication. It’s never hurt to add another layer to safeguard your account.
4. Choose a decent and unbreakable password management tool. With a professional tool, it shall not only help with storing your passwords in a safe place, but also help with better managing your data in an organized way.

How to Generate a Secure Password and Update It in Your Passwarden Storage

1. Sign in to your Passwarden account.

2. Choose the item you want to update.

3. Click Edit in the right corner bottom. You should have a password that is 8 to 10 characters long, with lower-case and upper-case characters, numbers, and special symbols.

4. Update your password in the Password field.

5. Click Save.

You can also generate a random new passcode, click Generate Password next to the Password field, and follow the on-screen steps.