Facebook has not alerted any of the 530 million of their users that their personal data, including names and phone numbers, were leaked in a data breach and the company has no plans to do so, according to Reuters.
Business Insider first reported last week that the personal information of the over half a billion Facebook users had been made available in an unsecured public database. The exposed information included "phone numbers, Facebook IDs, full names, locations, birthdates, bios, and, in some cases, email addresses."
Facebook said in a blog post addressing the Business Insider story Tuesday, that the leaked data was obtained by "malicious actors" in 2019 by "scraping" profiles using a mechanism on a feature designed to help new users synch contacts and that the loophole has now been closed.
According to the spokesperson, the leaked information did not include financial data, health information or passwords.
In 2019, the tech giant reached a landmark settlement with the US Federal Trade Commission over allegations the company misused user data.
A July 2019 FTC settlement required Facebook report details of data breaches of 500 or more users within 30 days of confirming an incident.
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