Meta will notify 1 million Facebook users about their data being compromised due to malicious apps.
They have identified more than 400 apps available on both Google Play Store and Apple App Store that steal login information.
Apple and Google have already removed 45 of those 400 apps reported by Facebook.
Meta-owned Facebook has announced that it would be warning around a million Facebook users about their login credentials being stolen. Facebook says that this is all because of a security flaw with over 400 apps downloaded from the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.
In a statement, Facebook said that the apps in the list include many photo editing software, camera apps, games, VPNs and even some fitness tracking apps. Facebook has already confirmed that they have notified both Apple and Google.
As of now, both Apple and Google have many of the 400 applications reported by Facebook. Meanwhile, a Google spokesperson claimed that the Android users are protected by Google Play Protect which blocks such harmful or shady apps.
Malicious apps and compromised FB login: What happened
Facebook explained that after a user downloads one of the malicious apps reported by them, the app would first ask for a Facebook login to work. When the user logs in using Facebook, they basically gives in their login credentials like username and password. Now this grants the app developer access to their data and they won’t even have an idea.
"Cybercriminals know how popular these types of apps are, and they'll use similar themes to trick people and steal their accounts and information," said David Agranovich, Director of Global Threat Disruption at Meta. "If an app is promising something too good to be true, like unreleased features for another platform or social media site, chances are that it has ulterior motives."
Furthermore, during a briefing, he also said that “Many of the apps provided little to no functionality before you logged in, and most provided no functionality even after a person agreed to log in”.
Compromised FB account: What you need to do
- Reset Facebook account with a stronger password.
- Activate 2-factor authentication on your Facebook account.
- Enable login alerts so that you will be notified when an unauthorized login happens.
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