A Facebook error exposed unpublished photos of up to 6.8 million users
Facebook has just revealed that a bug in the API photos of its platform gave application developers too much access to images of up to 6.8 million users. "We have solved the problem but, due to this error, some third-party applications may have had access to a larger set of photos than usual," they say in a statement.
This new security breach of the social network headed by Mark Zuckerberg would have been open for twelve days, between September 13 and 25 of 2018. It has affected Facebook users who have used the network login and have granted permission to third-party applications to access their photos.
"When someone gives permission for an application to access their photos on Facebook, we usually only allow the application to access the photos that people share on their timeline, in this case, the error potentially gave developers access to other photos, like those shared on the Marketplace or Facebook Stories, the error also affected the photos that people upload to Facebook, but decided not to publish them. "
The security breach affected photos that did not get published
Facebook down
As they explain in the text that has announced the serious error, unpublished photos would also have been exposed. These images are those that are uploaded by users to the social network per, once loaded, they are not published.
This may be due to a loss of data connection or simply that, at the last moment, you decided not to proceed with the publication. In these cases, as Facebook explains, they store a copy of that photo so that the user who decides to continue with the publication has it when he returns to the application.
At present, according to the data handled by the social giant, it is estimated that up to 6.8 million users would have been affected by this problem and up to 1,500 applications built by 876 developers. The applications affected by this error were those that Facebook approved to access the photos API and that, as we pointed out before, users had authorized to access their photos. "We regret that this has happened," they maintain.
They assure from Facebook that at the beginning of next week they will implement tools for application developers that will allow them to determine which users of their application could be affected by this error. "We will work with these developers to remove the photos of the affected users," they say, adding that they will notify the people potentially affected by this error through an alert in the form of a notification that will be sent to the assistance center to learn more details.
This new security breach of the social network headed by Mark Zuckerberg would have been open for twelve days, between September 13 and 25 of 2018. It has affected Facebook users who have used the network login and have granted permission to third-party applications to access their photos.
"When someone gives permission for an application to access their photos on Facebook, we usually only allow the application to access the photos that people share on their timeline, in this case, the error potentially gave developers access to other photos, like those shared on the Marketplace or Facebook Stories, the error also affected the photos that people upload to Facebook, but decided not to publish them. "
The security breach affected photos that did not get published
Facebook down
As they explain in the text that has announced the serious error, unpublished photos would also have been exposed. These images are those that are uploaded by users to the social network per, once loaded, they are not published.
This may be due to a loss of data connection or simply that, at the last moment, you decided not to proceed with the publication. In these cases, as Facebook explains, they store a copy of that photo so that the user who decides to continue with the publication has it when he returns to the application.
At present, according to the data handled by the social giant, it is estimated that up to 6.8 million users would have been affected by this problem and up to 1,500 applications built by 876 developers. The applications affected by this error were those that Facebook approved to access the photos API and that, as we pointed out before, users had authorized to access their photos. "We regret that this has happened," they maintain.
They assure from Facebook that at the beginning of next week they will implement tools for application developers that will allow them to determine which users of their application could be affected by this error. "We will work with these developers to remove the photos of the affected users," they say, adding that they will notify the people potentially affected by this error through an alert in the form of a notification that will be sent to the assistance center to learn more details.
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