Facebook Announces Security Flaw Found in “View As” Feature

McAfee

Sep 28, 2018

3 MIN READ

Another day, another Facebook story. In May, a Facebook Messenger malware named FacexWorm was utilized by cybercriminals to steal user passwords and mine for cryptocurrency. Later that same month, the personal data of 3 million users was exposed by an app on the platform dubbed myPersonality. And in June, millions of the social network’s users may have unwittingly shared private posts publicly due to another new bug. Which brings us to today. Just announced this morning, Facebook revealed they are dealing with yet another security breach, this time involving the “View As” feature.

Facebook users have the ability to view their profiles from another user’s perspective, which is called “View As.” This very feature was found to have a security flaw that has impacted approximately 50 million user accounts, as cybercriminals have exploited this vulnerability to steal Facebook users’ access tokens. Access tokens are digital keys that keep users logged in, and they permit users to bypass the need to enter a password every time. Essentially, this flaw helps cybercriminals take over users’ accounts.

While the access tokens of 50 million accounts were taken, Facebook still doesn’t know if any personal information was gathered or misused from the affected accounts. However, they do suspect that everyone who used the “View As” feature in the last year will have to log back into Facebook, as well as any apps that used a Facebook login. An estimated 90 million Facebook users will have to log back in.

As of now, this story is still developing, as Facebook is still investigating further into this issue. Now, the question is — if you’re an impacted Facebook user, what should you do to stay secure? Start by following these tips:

Change your account login information. Since this flaw logged users out, it’s vital you change up your login information. Be sure to make your next password strong and complex, so it will be difficult for cybercriminals to crack. It also might be a good idea to turn on two-factor authentication.
Update, update, update. No matter the application, it can’t be stressed enough how important it is to always update an app as soon as an update is available, as fixes are usually included with each version. Facebook has already issued a fix to this vulnerability, so make sure you update immediately.

And, of course, to stay on top of the latest consumer and mobile security threats, be sure to follow me and @McAfee_Home on Twitter, listen to our podcast Hackable? and ‘Like’ us on Facebook.