533 million Facebook users were hacked. Here's how to find out if you were one of them
More than 533 million Facebook users were hacked and their private data released to a hacking forum, multiple reports indicate.
(NEXSTAR) - More than 533 million Facebook users were hacked and their private data released to a hacking forum, multiple reports indicate.
According to Business Insider, which verified several of the leaked records, the hack affects users from 106 countries, including more than 32 million in the U.S.
The hack leaked full names, birthdates, locations, phone numbers, Facebook IDs, bios and, in some instances, email addresses.
Security researcher Alon Gal also confirmed the hack via Twitter.
Facebook did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A Facebook communications team member, Liz Bourgeois, did say on Twitter in response to a news story about the hack that the breach was "old data that was previously reported on in 2019."
A third-party website called haveibeenpwned.com can let you check if you were one of the hacked accounts.
All you have to do is input your email address and the website will inform you whether you've been subject to a security breach.
There is a catch to all this. According to CNN, only 2.5 million of the 533 million Facebook accounts included emails in the stolen data, meaning you have less than half a percent chance of appearing on the website.
Haveibeenpwned.com creator Troy Hunt said on Twitter he's thinking of adding phone numbers to the site's search capabilities, which would notify a much larger swath of Facebook users if their data has been stolen.