How to know if my Facebook account was compromised

They leak information from millions of Facebook users 1:27

New York (CNN Business) -

This weekend, cybersecurity experts revealed that the personal information on the accounts of some 500 million Facebook users was compromised, a trove of data that includes full names, birthdays, phone numbers and your location. Facebook said the massive leak is due to a 2019 issue, which has now been fixed.

Still, there is no way to get that data back.

More than 30 million accounts in the United States were compromised and the company does not make it easy to find out if your account is part of them.

Tip to avoid identity theft on the web 0:31

But a third-party website, haveibeenpwned.com, makes checking easy by entering your email.

For now, just check if your email is among those stolen.

That is an important caveat.

Although there are 533 million breached Facebook accounts, only 2.5 million of them included emails among the stolen data.

Therefore, you have less than half the chance of appearing on that website, although you have a 20% chance of being hacked if you have a Facebook account.

LOOK: 5 things: they publish information about Facebook users, and more

HaveIBeenPwned creator and security expert Troy Hunt said on Twitter that he is looking into adding the phone numbers.

“The main value of the data is the association of telephone numbers with identities;

While each record included the phone number, only 2.5 million contained an email address, ”said Hunt's website.

advertising

Although this data is from 2019, it could still be of value to hackers and cybercriminals like those who are dedicated to identity theft.

Facebook did not immediately respond to CNN on Monday about creating a means to verify the information leak.

LEE: The information of 500 million Facebook users was published on a hacking website, say cybersecurity experts

CNN Business' Donie O'Sullivan contributed to this report.

CybersecurityFacebookPrivacy