Meta’s Mega Fine: €251 Million for Facebook Data Breach Fiasco
Meta has been slapped with a €251M fine by the Irish Data Protection Commission for a 2018 data breach that exposed 29 million Facebook accounts. The fine includes penalties for inadequate breach notifications, poor documentation, design flaws, and failing default data protection—impressive multitasking, but not in a good way!
Hot Take:
Meta has been fined a cool €251 million by the Irish Data Protection Commission for a 2018 data breach scandal that could be the plot of a cyber-thriller. It turns out you can’t just give away personal data like it’s candy on Halloween. Maybe next time, Meta will remember that privacy isn’t just a suggestion—it’s the law! Time to update those privacy settings, folks, because apparently “View As” was more like “View All”.
Key Points:
- The Irish DPC fined Meta €251 million for a 2018 data breach affecting 29 million Facebook accounts globally, including 3 million in the EU.
- The breach stemmed from a vulnerability in Facebook’s “View As” feature, allowing hackers to steal access tokens.
- Hackers accessed names, phone numbers, and email addresses of 15 million users, with more detailed data for another 14 million users.
- The DPC cited Meta for inadequate breach notifications, poor documentation, and design flaws, leading to the substantial fine.
- This case underscores the importance of integrating data protection into system design to safeguard user privacy.