Facebook says 30M hacked in breach

Facebook revealed Friday that it had determined the major security breach it discovered late last month impacted the accounts of 30 million users.

The company wrote in a blog post that the names and contact information of 15 million users were accessed by hackers, while 14 million had far more personal data exposed, including birthdates, friends lists, the last 10 places they checked into on the social net- work and their 15 most recent searches. An additional 1 million users were hacked but had no data accessed, according to the company.

The data leaks could help a fraudster pose as Facebook, an employer or a friend and then craft a more sophisticated e-mail to trick users into providing login information on a fake page or into clicking on an attachment that could infect computers.

Facebook noted that the hack did not affect its popular Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp platforms, and that no financial information was accessed.

“We’re cooperating with the FBI, which is actively investigating, and asked us not to discuss who may be behind this attack,” Facebook said in a blog post.

Theresa Payton, a former White House chief information officer and chief executive of security consulting firm Fortalice Solutions, said it was good news that the number of Facebook users affected is now smaller than the 50 million that the company reported last month. She noted, however, that users are not in the clear.

“I’m actually more alarmed,” she said. “We’re entering a stage where these sites house an incredible amount of information about our patterns of life.”

“This has a potential for extortion,” Payton added.

Facebook’s stock edged up 39 cents, to $153.74, on Friday. It declined 2.6 percent after the breach was announced last month.