It appears that during the general blackout of Facebook services, hackers tried to sell i user data of one and a half billion of social media users on the black market. However, it would appear that hackers simply have cheated buyers, without ever having access to the data.
Facebook user data (possibly) sold online by hackers during the global down
The GizChina site reports alarming news, despite using all the conditionals of the case. In fact, it seems that the Russian Privacy Affairs reported the sale on the black market of an impressive amount of Facebook user data, right during the global blackout services. According to this source, the data would include name, address, email and telephone number. Hackers would sell the data for $ 5,000 for one million users. For a total of $ 7.5 million for the entire information package.
Posting during the global downturn of Facebook services appears implying that the data was stolen during the blackout. However, GizChina reports that those who tried to buy this data found themselves with nothing in hand. It would therefore appear to be a scam. Some hackers would have decided to sell nothing by taking advantage of Facebook’s technical problems.
In fact, the social network announced that no lost data results from the analyzes carried out. The global problem caused him a failed update of the internal routers, which he would have cleared the DNS information. The question therefore would have nothing to do with hackers but is linked to an error in addressing the various Facebook sites. A technical error, not a hacker attack.
Judging from what the Chinese newspaper reports, it would seem that this alleged leak of users’ personal information is just a scam, with hackers who have deceived other cybercriminals. We will keep you informed in case confirmation of this news arrives. But at the moment it does not seem appropriate to be alarmed: There is no solid evidence that any data was stolen from Facebook’s servers.