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float: right; width: 200px; background: #edf7ff; border: solid #666666 1px; padding: 0px; font-size: x-small; clear:right;"> <div style="text-decoration:none; background: #7ec9fd; padding: 2px; text-align: center; style; font-size: 140%; border-bottom: solid 1px #666666;"><b><a href="/wiki/Internet" class="mw-redirect" title="Internet">Internet</a></b></div> <div style="background: #bce1ff; padding: 2px; text-align: center; style; font-size: normal;">Related stories</div> <div style="padding: 2px;"> <ul> <li><a href="/wiki/Data_breach_and_DDOS_attacks_bring_down_Wayback_Machine" title="Data breach and DDOS attacks bring down Wayback Machine">Data breach and DDOS attacks bring down Wayback Machine</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikinews_interviews_Tatton_Spiller,_founder_of_political_news_service_Simple_Politics" title="Wikinews interviews Tatton Spiller, founder of political news service Simple Politics">Wikinews interviews Tatton Spiller, founder of political news service Simple Politics</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Twitter_threatens_to_sue_Meta_over_rival_app_Threads" title="Twitter threatens to sue Meta over rival app Threads">Twitter threatens to sue Meta over rival app Threads</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Microsoft,_Nware_sign_10-year_cloud_gaming_deal" title="Microsoft, Nware sign 10-year cloud gaming deal">Microsoft, Nware sign 10-year cloud gaming deal</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/%22Avast_ye_scurvy_file_sharers!%22:_Interview_with_Swedish_Pirate_Party_leader_Rickard_Falkvinge" title=""Avast ye scurvy file sharers!": Interview with Swedish Pirate Party leader Rickard Falkvinge">"Avast ye scurvy file sharers!": Interview with Swedish Pirate Party leader Rickard Falkvinge</a></li></ul> </div> <div class="center"><span typeof="mw:File"><a href="/wiki/File:Internet_map_1024.jpg" class="mw-file-description" title="Graphical map of the Internet"><img alt="Graphical map of the Internet" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d2/Internet_map_1024.jpg/200px-Internet_map_1024.jpg" decoding="async" width="200" height="200" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d2/Internet_map_1024.jpg/300px-Internet_map_1024.jpg 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d2/Internet_map_1024.jpg/400px-Internet_map_1024.jpg 2x" data-file-width="1280" data-file-height="1280" /></a></span></div> <div class="center">More information at <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia" class="extiw" title="w:Wikipedia">Wikipedia</a>:</div> <dl><dd><ul><li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Internet" class="extiw" title="w:Portal:Internet">Internet portal</a></li> <li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet" class="extiw" title="w:Internet">Internet</a></li> <li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Internet" class="extiw" title="w:History of the Internet">History of the Internet</a></li> <li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_censorship" class="extiw" title="w:Internet censorship">Internet censorship</a></li> <li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Protocol" class="extiw" title="w:Internet Protocol">Internet Protocol</a></li> <li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Wide_Web" class="extiw" title="w:World Wide Web">World Wide Web</a></li></ul></dd></dl> </div><p><strong class="published"><span id="publishDate" class="value-title" title="2019-04-08"></span>Monday, April 8, 2019</strong><span class="Z3988" style="display:none" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rfr_id=rfr_id=info:sid/en.wikinews.org:User%3ADendodge&rft_id=info:sid/en.wikinews.org:540_million_private_Facebook_records_found_on_public_Internet&rft.atitle=540+million+private+Facebook+records+found+on+public+Internet&rft.jtitle=Wikinews&rft.date=2019-04-08&rft.aucorp=Wikinews+contributors&rft.genre=article&rft.rights=CC-BY+2.5&rft.identifier=%2F%2Fen.wikinews.org%2Fwiki%2F540_million_private_Facebook_records_found_on_public_Internet&rft.artnum=-"> </span> </p><p>According to a report on Wednesday by <span class="interwiki-link-foreign"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UpGuard" class="extiw" title="w:UpGuard">UpGuard</a></span>, a <span class="interwiki-link-foreign"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/cybersecurity" class="extiw" title="w:cybersecurity">cybersecurity</a></span> firm, two <span class="interwiki-link-foreign"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/database" class="extiw" title="w:database">databases</a></span> containing user data from <a href="/wiki/Facebook" class="mw-redirect" title="Facebook">Facebook</a> were found on <a href="/wiki/Amazon.com" class="mw-redirect" title="Amazon.com">Amazon.com</a> web servers accessible to the public on the internet. Information leaked included user ID's, photos, Facebook friend and group lists, and interests. </p> <figure class="mw-halign-left" typeof="mw:File/Thumb"><a href="/wiki/File:Facebook_Logo_(2015)_light.svg" class="mw-file-description"><img src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/87/Facebook_Logo_%282015%29_light.svg/130px-Facebook_Logo_%282015%29_light.svg.png" decoding="async" width="130" height="25" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/87/Facebook_Logo_%282015%29_light.svg/195px-Facebook_Logo_%282015%29_light.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/87/Facebook_Logo_%282015%29_light.svg/260px-Facebook_Logo_%282015%29_light.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="512" data-file-height="99" /></a><figcaption>Facebook's logo</figcaption></figure> <p>One of the databases is owned by the <a href="/wiki/Mexico" class="mw-redirect" title="Mexico">Mexican</a> company <span class="interwiki-link-foreign"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultura_Colectiva" class="extiw" title="w:Cultura Colectiva">Cultura Colectiva</a></span>, which specializes in digital media, while the other is owned by a separate Facebook-integrated app, At the Pool. In these two instances, the records were publicly available because the "<span class="interwiki-link-foreign"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_S3" class="extiw" title="w:Amazon S3">Amazon S3</a></span> Buckets" on which the data were stored were misconfigured to allow public access instead of only private access. The original report was not entirely clear about this point, and <i>Wikinews</i> confirmed with UpGuard that the two incidents involved two separate Amazon S3 buckets. </p><p>UpGuard reportedly sent an email to Cultura Colectiva on January 10, and again on January 14, but received no response. On January 28, UpGuard reportedly emailed Amazon Web Services informing them of the situation, to which on February 1 Amazon Web Services acknowledged the bucket's owner had been informed. After the database had still not been secured, UpGuard reportedly emailed Amazon Web Services again on February 21, with Amazon Web services responding that they would investigate what else could be done about it. Reportedly, the Amazon S3 Buckets were only secured after Bloomberg contacted Facebook. </p><p><i><a href="/wiki/The_Guardian" class="mw-redirect" title="The Guardian">The Guardian</a></i> drew comparisons between this case and the <span class="interwiki-link-foreign"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambridge_Analytica" class="extiw" title="w:Cambridge Analytica">Cambridge Analytica</a></span> scandal, in which over 50 million Facebook profiles were harvested for data without users' knowledge or consent. </p><p><br style="clear:none;" /> </p> <div align="center"> <div class="noprint messagebox boilerplate plainlinks" id="commentrequest" style="background-color:#FFFFFF; border:1px solid #CCCCCC; padding:2px;width:50%; text-size:smallest;"> <p>Have an opinion on this story? <a href="/wiki/Comments:540_million_private_Facebook_records_found_on_public_Internet" title="Comments:540 million private Facebook records found on public Internet">Share it!</a> </p> </div></div> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Sources">Sources</h2></div> <ul><li><span class="sourceTemplate"> "<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.upguard.com/breaches/facebook-user-data-leak">Losing Face: Two More Cases of Third-Party Facebook App Data Exposure</a>" — <i><span class="interwiki-link-foreign"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UpGuard" class="extiw" title="w:UpGuard">UpGuard</a></span></i>, April 3 2019</span></li> <li><span class="sourceTemplate">Jason Silverstein. "<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/millions-facebook-user-records-exposed-amazon-cloud-server/">Millions of Facebook user records were exposed on Amazon cloud server</a>" — <i><span class="interwiki-link-local"><a href="/wiki/CBS_News" class="mw-redirect" title="CBS News">CBS News</a></span></i>, April 3 2019</span></li> <li><span class="sourceTemplate">Julia Carrie Wong. "<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/apr/03/facebook-data-public-servers-amazon">Hundreds of millions of Facebook records exposed on public servers – report</a>" — <i><span class="interwiki-link-local"><a href="/wiki/The_Guardian" class="mw-redirect" title="The Guardian">The Guardian</a></span></i>, April 3 2019</span></li></ul> <div class="desktop-only"> <table class="noprint toccolours OR box" style="clear:left; float:left; background: #f9f9f9; width: 350px; margin-right: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 2em; border: 1px solid #e0e0e0;" cellspacing="3" cellpadding="3" rules="none"> <tbody><tr> <td><figure class="mw-halign-none" typeof="mw:File"><a href="/wiki/File:Wikinews-logo.svg" class="mw-file-description" title="Wikinews"><img alt="Wikinews" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/24/Wikinews-logo.svg/100px-Wikinews-logo.svg.png" decoding="async" width="100" height="55" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/24/Wikinews-logo.svg/150px-Wikinews-logo.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/24/Wikinews-logo.svg/200px-Wikinews-logo.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="759" data-file-height="415" /></a><figcaption>Wikinews</figcaption></figure> </td> <td>This article features <a href="/wiki/Wikinews:Original_reporting" title="Wikinews:Original reporting">first-hand journalism</a> by <a href="/wiki/Wikinews:Wikinewsies" title="Wikinews:Wikinewsies">Wikinews members</a>. 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