Experts: 2.2 billion Facebook users must log out, re-login across devic

After Facebook admitted that hackers broke into nearly 50 million users accounts by stealing their access tokens or digital keys cyber experts on Saturday warned over 23 billion users to log out and log back into Facebook or any of thirdparty apps that use Facebook loginFacebook has reset the access tokens of almost 50 million accounts it knew were affected It has also taken the precautionary step of resetting access tokens for another 40 million accounts that have been subject to View As lookup in the last yearFor now logging out and back in is all that is necessary The truly concerned should use this as a reminder and an opportunity to review all of their security and privacy settings on Facebook and all other social media platforms Chester Wisniewski Principal Research Scientist with global cyber security major Sophos told IANSAccording to Dr Gary McGraw Vice President of Security Technology Synopsys Software Integrity Group this breach emphasises just how important software security is and how subtle solid security engineering can beWhen a feature like View As can be turned on its head into an exploit it indicates a design problem that led to unanticipated security vulnerability noted Dr McGrawDesign flaws like this lurk in the mind boggling complexity of todays commercial systems and must be systematically uncovered and corrected when software is being designed and built he addedIf youve ever wondered what keeps you logged into your account even after you restart your laptopbrowser those are access tokens cookiesThey maintain a constant session even when your IP changesIn this case hackers were able to steal these tokens which basically means the hacker could fool Facebook servers to believe they are the authorised users of the targets account that would give the attacker complete access of the targets account said Saket Modi CEO and CoFounder of Lucideus an IT risk assessment and digital security services providerAccording to experts they dont know for how long the vulnerability existed who the hackers were and the extent of damage that might have been caused in terms of stealing not only ones profile data but in this case potentially the personal messages pictures and chats among othersAs a precaution all Facebook users must log out and relogin into all the gadgets that they have their Facebook session active like your cell phone app or browser laptop and desktop etc Modi advisedFacebook said it does not know who is behind this massive security attackWere working hard to better understand these details and we will update this post when we have more information or if the facts change said the companyIn the Cambridge Analytica scandal data of nearly 87 million people was breached uponCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updatesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Except for the change in the headline the story has been provided ASIS AS AVAILABLE without any verification or editing from our side Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever