Facebook is issuing an apology after it was revealed that the social media giant stored hundreds of millions of users passwords as plain text. That means anyone with access to the files could have easily read the user password.
Now, this isn’t a typical data breach. No passwords were exposed to hackers or anyone outside the company. However, if a Facebook employee with access to those files had looked at them, they would have been able to read them.
Contrary to the perception of a lot of users, people who work at most websites have no access to your password. They may be able to reset them for you but normally passwords and other sensitive data like credit card numbers are stored in an encrypted format so that no one can actually read them.
The company said it would notify the Facebook and Instagram users whose passwords were stored in these files. The company says that the problem has been corrected. This points out that your data is much more likely to be exposed on a company server than through your own doing. Sobering info. The company also made a point of going over the password protections it has in place.
- If there’s a log in from a new device or location, they’ll ask for additional information besides the password.
- You do have the option to set up alerts when there’s an unrecognized log in
- The company keeps an eye on other data breaches and compares the affected passwords and credentials with passwords and logins used on their site.
Tomorrow, I’ll show you how you can set up unrecognized login alerts for your Facebook account.