KEY STORY
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Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg uses Signal app. Zuckerberg’s phone number was among the leaked data of 533 million Facebook users. Apart from his contact number, data including his name, location, marriage details, birth date, and Facebook user ID was also leaked, according to an online report.
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A security researcher revealed that Zuckerberg uses Signal by posting his leaked phone number which confirmed the Facebook CEO uses Signal app, “In another turn of events, Mark Zuckerberg also respects his own privacy, by using a chat app that has end-to-end encryption and isn’t owned by @facebook.
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This is the number associated with his account from the recent Facebook leak,” security expert Dave Walker posted on Twitter with a screenshot of Zuckerberg’s leaked phone number which said, “Mark Zuckerberg is on Signal.”
In another turn of events, Mark Zuckerberg also respects his own privacy, by using a chat app that has end-to-end encryption and isn't owned by @facebook
This is the number associated with his account from the recent facebook leak. https://t.co/AXbXrF4ZxE
— Dave Walker (@Daviey) April 4, 2021
United diagnosticss
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The news comes at a time when many users outraged with Facebook-owned WhatsApp’s new privacy policy are moving to seemingly safer alternatives like Signal.
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WhatsApp’s contentious new terms of service are slated to come into effect from May 2021. The updated privacy policy changes how Facebook can access users’ chats with business accounts.
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Facebook’s co-founders Chris Hughes and Dustin Moskovitz were also among the affected users whose data was leaked in the Facebook breach.
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Walker noted that the data breach also included Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s contact among the 533 million others. “Regarding the Facebook leak of the 533M people the irony is that Mark Zuckerberg is regrettably included in the leak as well,” he wrote on Twitter.
Regarding the #FacebookLeak, of the 533M people in the leak – the irony is that Mark Zuckerberg is regrettably included in the leak as well.
If journalists are struggling to get a statement from @facebook, maybe just give him a call, from the tel in the leak? 📞😂@GazTheJourno pic.twitter.com/lrqlwzFMjU
— Dave Walker (@Daviey) April 3, 2021
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According to another security expert, Alon Gal, the data was leaked in 2020 because of a vulnerability that enabled seeing the phone number linked to every Facebook account. Facebook noted that the vulnerability was discovered in 2019 that allowed phone numbers of millions of users to be scraped from Facebook servers.
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The social media giant said that the vulnerability was patched in August 2019. However, according to Gal, despite that flaw being fixed, it could provide valuable information to cyber criminals.
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Among the 533 million affected Facebook users, 32 million belonged to the US, 11 million belonged to the UK and six million belonged to India. Apart from contact numbers, the confidential information included users’ personal details like their location, full names, birth dates, complete bio, Facebook IDs, and email addresses.
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According to a Bloomberg report, the database of stolen phone numbers was posted to a Hackers’ forum’ and could be easily passed on to anyone with basic computing skills.
