Thought Facebook Was Secure? Well, Think Again!

Facebook is under fire this week after it was made public that there was a data breach. Back in 2015, UK academic Aleksandr Kogan stole and shared the data of 87 Million Facebook users with Cambridge Analytica and other parties. Kogan collected the data through his personality quiz app, which users’ had to provide information about themselves and their friends.

How Come The Public Is Only Learning About This Now?

In 2015, Cambridge Analytica told Mark Zuckerberg the data they received from Kogan had been deleted and was never used. Also, the app Kogan used to obtain the Facebook data was banned immediately. Zuckerberg truly believed that the breach was taken care of. However, it was quite the opposite. Cambridge Analytica lied about deleting the data.

How Did Facebook Not Know?

The Bottom Line: Facebook trusted the word of Cambridge Analytica.

Most companies today do a full investigation when a data breach occurs. Facebook made the HUGE mistake of not investigating the situation and making sure the data was deleted. Mark Zuckerberg admitted this mistake in a recent interview with Wired.

Watch the video below for all the details on what happened.

What Now?

Mark Zuckerberg To Testify Before the Senate and Congress

On April 10th and 11th, Mark Zuckerberg is set to speak in front of the U.S. Senate and Congress regarding Facebook and their data privacy and security. They will ask him about Cambridge Analytica, Russian Election Interference, and Facebook’s data policies. Click here to view his prepared statement.

Lawsuit Against Facebook and Cambridge Analytica

Facebook and Cambridge Analytica are being sued by the data victims for violating California’s Unfair Competition Law. This case could become a class action lawsuit if the Judge decides so. Each company is pointing blame at each other, but at the end of the day, both are responsible.

Facebook Changes

In a recent Facebook post by Mark Zuckerberg, he stated exactly what occurred and the changes that would be made to prevent this in the future.  

These changes include:

• Facebook conducting full investigations into all apps that have access to large amounts of data or look suspicious. Any developer that doesn’t agree to this will be banned.
• Restricting developers’ data access to prevent app abuse. For example, apps being able to only ask for a user’s name, profile photo, and email address.
• Creating a tool that displays the apps you have used at the top of the News Feed.

#DeleteFacebook

The #DeleteFacebook campaign has gained momentum in light of the data breach. More and more Facebook users’ are now deleting their accounts to protect their information. Even though there are settings that control what data Facebook and apps have access to, people are taking the extreme measure of leaving the platform.

After learning about this Facebook data breach, what will you do? Will you join the #DeleteFacebook movement or continue using the platform? It will be interesting to see what happens to the popular social media site in the next few months.

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