--- title: "Breaking: Hackers Accessed 50 Million Facebook Accounts" description: "## HACK ATTACK" date: "2018-09-28" modified: "2018-09-28" authors: - name: "Jon Christian" job_title: "Executive Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jonc" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/facebook-hack" categories: - "Cybersecurity" - "Future Society" - "Hacking" tags: - "breach" - "cambridge analytica" - "cybersecurity" - "facebook" - "facebook hack" - "the digest" --- # Breaking: Hackers Accessed 50 Million Facebook Accounts ![]() *\Image: Victor Tangermann\* ## HACK ATTACK Hackers accessed data from nearly 50 million Facebook accounts, the company [said today](). The company discovered the breach on Tuesday, according to the post, and does not know who was behind the attack. The social giant didn't immediately say what data the hackers might have stolen. Facebook's vice president of product management Guy Rosen wrote in a [post announcing the breach:]() Our investigation is still in its early stages. But it’s clear that attackers exploited a vulnerability in Facebook’s code that impacted 'View As', a feature that lets people see what their own profile looks like to someone else. This allowed them to steal Facebook access tokens which they could then use to take over people’s accounts. Access tokens are the equivalent of digital keys that keep people logged in to Facebook so they don’t need to re-enter their password every time they use the app. ## ZUCKED This new data breach is significant not just because it showed another way that hackers can infiltrate Facebook's defenses. It also shows that users themselves aren't as prepared as they should be. As Michael Roston, a science editor for the *New York Times* noted on Twitter, it reveals that a large proportion of Facebook users aren't protecting themselves from hacks like this as best they could. https://twitter.com/michaelroston/status/1045720277836017665 But it likely won't have the impact of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, which granted improper access to information about [87 million Facebook users]() in 2013. Facebook's reputation [took a beating]() during that episode, and this is more bad news. We'll update this post as more information becomes available. **READ MORE: [Security Update]()** \[Facebook\] **More on Facebook hacks: [Mark Zuckerberg Kicks Off Facebook’s Cambridge Analytica Spin Cycle With a Washed Response]()** ## Author I'm responsible for editing, assigning, and scouting at Futurism, as well as occasionally writing for the site. That work involves keeping an eye on a wide range of narratives and issues, but over the past few years I've become increasingly interested in how AI is shaping the future of media, the web, and information itself. My day-to-day often involves collaborating on reporting and commentary projects bylined by my colleagues, but I try to find time to do my own reporting as well; stories I've broken for Futurism have been cited by publications including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the New Yorker, Wired, Ars Technica, New York Magazine, the Columbia Journalism Review, Bloomberg, and more. I grew up in Southern Vermont and attended Vanderbilt University. Prior to Futurism, I contributed to outlets including the Boston Globe, Vice, Wired, Slate, the Atlantic, the Outline, Ars Technica and more, and did stints in farming and food service. I currently live in Brooklyn, New York, and in my free time I enjoy pinball, word games, cycling, running, and music production. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()