Security News > 2020 > November > Exposed Database Reveals 100K+ Compromised Facebook Accounts

The unsecured Elasticsearch database was 5.5 gigabytes and contained 13,521,774 records of at least 100,000 Facebook users.

The data in the exposed database included credentials and IP addresses; text outlines for comments the fraudsters would make on Facebook pages that directed people to suspicious and fraudulent websites; and personally identifiable information data such as emails, names and phone numbers of the Bitcoin scam victims.

The global scam targeting Facebook users starts with a network of websites owned by fraudsters, which trick Facebook users into providing their credentials by promising they would show targets a list of people who had recently visited their profiles.

"In the process, the fraudsters saved the victim's Facebook username and password on the exposed database for future use in their other criminal activities," said researchers.

The attackers then use the victims' credentials for the next phase of the attack - taking over accounts and commenting on Facebook posts published in the victims' network, with links to a different network of scam websites that are owned by the fraudsters.

News URL

https://threatpost.com/exposed-database-100k-facebook-accounts/161247/