If There Was A Dislike Button On Facebook You’d Want It Today

Facebook just revealed that a new bug gave app developers too much access to the photos of up to 5.6 million users’ photos. These photos were not shared publicly yet third-party app developers were still able to access them. In what has been a rough year for Facebook security, keep reading for all the details about the latest slip up.

What was compromised? 

According to TechCruch, “the bug allowed apps users had approved to pull their timeline photos to also receive their Facebook Stories, Marketplace photos, and most worryingly, photos they’d uploaded to Facebook but never shared”. It did not affect photos that you privately shared through Messenger or photos on your phone or camera that were never uploaded to Facebook.

If you’re thinking it’s kind of creepy that they keep partially uploaded photos that you never posted in the first place, you’d be right. It gets scary when you realize your photos were potentially exposed to third-party developers. This shows you how easy it is for threats to get your information and infect your computer without your knowledge.

When did this happen?

Facebook says it happened for a period of 12 days from September 13 to September 25th.

What are they doing about it?

Facebook plans to provide tools sometime next week for app developers to check if they were impacted and it will work to delete photos they shouldn’t have. They also plan to notify affected people via a Facebook notification that will send them to the Help Center for more information.

In case you forgot this is one among a string of recent Facebook privacy issues:

• Remember the Cambridge Analytica scandal?
• What about the bug that post public accidentally?
• They also unintentionally sent weekly app emails to the wrong people in June.
• In October they had a security breach that affected 50 million accounts.
• Then last month they found 81,000 private messages for sale online.

Be sure to share this with your friends on Facebook so they are aware. Like always, reach out to us or leave a comment below if you have a question or want to chat!