Security News > 2021 > April > Facebook Says Hackers 'Scraped' Data of 533 Million Users in 2019 Leak
Facebook said Tuesday that hackers "Scraped" personal data of some half-billion users back in 2019 by taking advantage of a feature designed to help people easily find friends using contact lists.
A trove of information about more than 530 million Facebook users was shared over the weekend at a hacker forum, prompting the leading social network to explain what happened and call on people to be vigilant about privacy settings.
The data included phone numbers, birth dates, and email addresses, and some of the data appeared to be current, according to US media reports.
The stolen data did not include passwords or financial data, according to Facebook.
This is not the first time leaks or use of data from the world's largest social network - with nearly two billion users - has embroiled Facebook in controversy.
In 2016, a scandal around Cambridge Analytica, a British consulting firm that used the personal data of millions of Facebook users to target political ads, cast a shadow over the social network and its handling of private information.