Change your password IMMEDIATELY
ATTENTION ALL FACEBOOK USERS: Symantec, the largest maker of personal computer security software, recommends that ALL Facebook users change their passwords immediately!
A report, recently published by Symantec, claims an app security flaw has caused leaks in access codes of which belong to millions of Facebook users’ profiles. For the past several years nearly 100,000 apps on the world’s largest social network may have been giving advertisers and other third parties access to Facebook users’ profiles. They estimated that third parties have received millions of access codes throughout the years. Symantec’s investigation discovered that the information advertisers and analytic platforms were receiving allowed them to gain access to users’ walls, profiles and more.
Facebook addressed Symantec’s report by saying there is “no evidence” of access codes being leaked. Then on Tuesday, May 10th, a Facebook spokesperson announced the app flaw had been patched. Symantec still recommends that Facebook users change their passwords.
Unlike last year’s controversy regarding apps selling personal data to third parties, this time around, most third party developers were most likely unaware they even had the access codes to get users’ account information. Regardless, Facebook’s director of developer relations reiterates that any use of private information is a violation of Facebook’s developer policies.