How to Check if You Are Part of the Facebook Data Leak?
The social media giant, Facebook suffered a data leak that exposes personal data of 533 million users from 106 countries. This encompasses approximately 20% of Facebook subscribers whose identities are made public, which includes emails, phone numbers, birthdates, addresses, social media profiles, and usernames.
When reading about this massive data leak, you must be asking yourself; is my Facebook data compromised?
How would I know if I am part of a data leak?
A popular and free resource for anyone to quickly check if they’ve been put to risk, or have been part of a data breach is Have I Been Pwned. This site was developed to help validate if your email address or your phone number is exposed in a data breach.
A similar free tool to check email leaks is Trend Micro Check. Simply provide your email address and it will scan all the reported data leaks. Trend Micro Check not only helps you identify if your account was compromised, but also provides you a comprehensive report that shows if your account was part of any data leak, including the recent leak involving Facebook.
What apps are using your Facebook data?
To be precautious, you should be aware of the apps that have access to your Facebook data. If you opted to login to an app using your Facebook account instead of creating a new account, chances are the app developer already have access to your Facebook data.
Each app that uses your Facebook account to log into will get information such as your gender, networks, username, user ID, full name, and profile picture. They will get access to your friends’ list and other public information listed or associated to your profile.
You can control and minimize the possibility of your data being distributed over the Internet, which can easily get into the hands of cybercriminals. Login to your Facebook account and follow the steps below to check what apps are using your data:
- Go to Settings & Privacy
- Select Apps and Websites to find what apps you used Facebook to log into.
- Select each app to “View or Edit” permission on the data it uses.
Secure your personal data
Data leak is more and more common and everyone is at risk of having their data stolen. What happens if you found your data being compromised? Here are some tips to help you secure your personal data:
1. Change your password: Change your password immediately to minimize the risk of data exposure and keep your identity safe from threat actors. Make sure to log out of all active and online accounts on your devices when you do this.
2. Use of Password Manager: This tool is designed to organize and protect your passwords across all sites and all devices to prevent security threats. Your password is the key that open doors to your personal data, so it is crucial to keep it safe. You can choose from Password Manager providers like Kaspersky, Trend Micro and RoboForm.
3. Enable Multi-factor Authentication: Use One-time password (OTP) and authenticator apps to add another layer of authentication when logging into your account. You can also use Face ID and finger scan, since most smartphones, tablet and computers are already equipped with biometrics scanner.
4. Use Personal Data Security Apps: Protect your personal identity with apps specifically designed to keep your personal information safe. Trend Micro ID Security can check if your Facebook and Twitter accounts have been leaked onto the internet or the dark web, in addition to your credit card numbers, Social Security number, passport number, and lots more. Another similar app is IdentityForce.
These are just few of the ways to protect your private information. It can be overwhelming to find out if you are affected by a data leak. In some instances, it can escalate to identity theft, phishing scam and other types of fraud. Always stay vigilant and take these measures to give you a little peace of mind as the statistics of data leak keep growing.
