Private phone numbers of Facebook Inc (NASDAQ: FB) users are available through a bot on the rival Telegram messaging service for $20 a pop, Vice’s Motherboard reported Monday.
What Happened: The database contains information on 500 million Facebook users, a person advertising the service told Motherboard.
The data is reportedly related to a vulnerability that the Mark Zuckerberg-led company fixed in August 2019.
Vice tested the bot and found that initial results from the Telegram bot are redacted but they can be revealed by buying credits. Each credit is $20 and prices range up to $5,000 for 10,000 credits.
Why It Matters: The bot apparently contains information on Facebook users from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and 15 other countries. Facebook had more than 2 billion users by 2019 worldwide.
The bot can be utilized by even novice cybercriminals as it is easy to access or by hackers, which can misuse the information, as per Vice.
This month Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhone users were suddenly logged out of their Facebook accounts due to an outage caused by a “configuration change,” as per USA Today.
Price Action: Facebook shares closed nearly 1.3% higher at $278.01 on Monday and fell 0.53% in the after-hours session.
Related Link: Elon Musk Discloses Funding WhatsApp Rival Signal, Says Will ‘Donate More’
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