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533M Facebook users' phone numbers and personal data have been leaked online

businessinsider.com

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Re: 533M Facebook users' phone numbers and personal data have been leaked online

#251

Post by MR4D »

KaiserPro wrote: post #226
anonymouse008 wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You do know how this happened right? Wifi SSIDs with similar strengths reveal if people are in the same area, then just correlate timestamps and viola! I wouldn't throw the elder person under the bus on this one, the tactics are sophisticated, and honestly, just a precursor to what will happen with AR. To give a bit more of how it's implemented (at least how I would propose it in iOS), Insta/FB/Whats queries availabl…

> You do know how this happened right? Wifi SSIDs with similar strengths reveal if people are in the same area, then just correlate timestamps and viola! I mean yeah, they _could_ do that, but thats a pain in the arse to do. Its far easier to do it on contact lists, interests and implied location from business page follows. I don't think iOS allows you to track SSIDs, which explains the lack of wifi scanning utilitie…

WiFi SSIDs have one very nice attribute - they tend not to move around much.

So every time you see a Google maps car ( or a Nuro car or a ...), your SSID is getting geomapped.

Now, your IP, SSID, geolocation, and who knows what else is now sitting in a lookup table somewhere.

So if they get all the other stuff that you just mentioned, they now know more about you than you do!

Re: 533M Facebook users' phone numbers and personal data have been leaked online

#253

Post by nunez »

scalableUnicon wrote: post #218
rhizome wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You do know how this happened right? Wifi SSIDs with similar strengths reveal if people are in the same area, then just correlate timestamps and viola! The problem is that someone decided to correlate them, not to mention without asking.

It is possible to opt-out of Google's Wi-Fi network location mapping by appending "_nomap" to SSID[1], I'm not sure if it works with other providers. Although I think this should have been opt-in instead of opt-out, the least we deserve is a standard, guaranteed way to universally opt-out. [1] https://www.tomshardware.com/news/Google-Maps-Wi-Fi-Location...

That's ridiculous, IMO. This is also confirmed by Google's support document on this feature: https://support.google.com/maps/answer/1725632?hl=en#zippy=%...

Changing one's SSID after the fact can be extremely annoying depending on the number of devices that need to be updated.

There has to be a better way.

Re: 533M Facebook users' phone numbers and personal data have been leaked online

#254

Post by Nextgrid »

scalableUnicon wrote: post #218
rhizome wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You do know how this happened right? Wifi SSIDs with similar strengths reveal if people are in the same area, then just correlate timestamps and viola! The problem is that someone decided to correlate them, not to mention without asking.

It is possible to opt-out of Google's Wi-Fi network location mapping by appending "_nomap" to SSID[1], I'm not sure if it works with other providers. Although I think this should have been opt-in instead of opt-out, the least we deserve is a standard, guaranteed way to universally opt-out. [1] https://www.tomshardware.com/news/Google-Maps-Wi-Fi-Location...

This isn't relevant - we're not talking about building a map of SSID to location, we're talking about using SSIDs to infer relationships between people; the SSIDs don't even have to be in any kind of location DB for that, what allowed Facebook to infer this relationship is that both the author's and their therapist's device regularly saw the same SSIDs.

Re: 533M Facebook users' phone numbers and personal data have been leaked online

#255

Post by sachdevap »

permo-w wrote: post #235
ipnon wrote: post #191

And yet it is still considered audaciously paranoid among the general public to protect your privacy by not having a Facebook/LinkedIn/Google/... account.

I've noticed that some people who don't have personalised social media seem to assume that other people do because they're mentally deficient or ignorant. It's the same as how unsympathetic people ask why fat people don't just stop eating, or drug users stop getting high, or the cyberbullied don't just turn off their phone. It's a lot more complicated than "just don't use facebook".

But parent is not talking about calling out people for having social media accounts. He/She is talking about those having a social media account judging those not having one as paranoid. You've just propped up a straw man here without addressing the point the parent comment made.

Re: 533M Facebook users' phone numbers and personal data have been leaked online

#256

Post by Schnitz »

sildur wrote: post #245
scalableUnicon wrote: post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is possible to opt-out of Google's Wi-Fi network location mapping by appending "_nomap" to SSID[1], I'm not sure if it works with other providers. Although I think this should have been opt-in instead of opt-out, the least we deserve is a standard, guaranteed way to universally opt-out. [1] https://www.tomshardware.com/news/Google-Maps-Wi-Fi-Location...

Why it's always us who have to do the work to avoid being harassed by google? If I don't want to have my site harvested for snippets I have to add a no-snippet tag. If I don't want my WiFi data harvested I have to append an ugly nomap to my SSID. What about being it opt-in, as you said? I'm tired of doing Google's dirty work... By the way, quoting from the article: > "Specifically, this approach helps protect against…

Especially because Google mapping your WiFi comes with real downsides for you. Two years ago a random stranger rung my doorbell and told me their Android phone got stolen and according to Find My Device, the device was inside my house and even showed it to me live. I told them to wait on the street and checked the roof and yard, but didn't find the device. I simply told them I can't help further and they luckily took it well, thanked me and left. Imagine how easily such a situation can get ugly though. A day or so later i realized that my Wifi router happens to be at an oddly open corner of my house, facing the backyard, and visible for much further than you'd expect since there are also no other structures for quite a distance. I bet his phone was somewhere there but saw my WiFi and so it erroneously located itself in my house. Thanks Google!

Re: 533M Facebook users' phone numbers and personal data have been leaked online

#258

Post by Nextgrid »

clort wrote: post #227
rpastuszak wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

haha, that's a good point, but in this case I think it's more trivial than that: she probably shared her contact book with FB or Insta (still, not her fault imho). But, at the same time I've worked with FB SDK which was just one big shit show. It's hard even to describe it without turning a comment into an essay, so I'll pick the two I found somewhat amusing: sending data to FB before the developer could pass user co…

is it even legal for a therapist to share their clients contact details with a third party? certainly I would expect that a person who works as a therapist would be aware that the concept of client confidentiality exists and that they should not share their clients details

It's not like Facebook is being transparent with what data they collect and how it's going to be used. Furthermore they don't understand the concept of "no" and will keep asking, hoping to catch you off-guard as you press the wrong button and give them access.

Re: 533M Facebook users' phone numbers and personal data have been leaked online

#259

Post by godmode2019 »

14 wrote: post #188
rpastuszak wrote: post #119

I don’t have FB or or WhatsApp but my Insta account (using a separate email address and no personal details) keeps recommending my therapist to me. How are we still ok with this shit? The sooner we get rid of the cancer that FB is, the better. I didn’t share my contact book with FB apps either. It was probably her—a person in her 70s, not necessarily experienced with tech. The main reason this company exists, or that…

The technology is just creepy. I recently experienced a wtf moment the other day when a friend stopped by and her new bf was in the car. We said hello and they soon left (I sell eggs). Later that day he is being suggested as a possible friend. I have my location services off but Facebook knew somehow.

The boyfriend probably went to your Facebook to see if you are a threat and what type of relationship you have with his new girlfriend.

Re: 533M Facebook users' phone numbers and personal data have been leaked online

#260

Post by i_have_an_idea »

There's not much to see here.

Someone scraped some public profiles. Someone then brute forced a poorly implemented "look up by phone number" feature. They linked the two datasets on the unique facebook user id.

Leaking data that is or was in the public domain is not much of a leak. The only noteworthy thing would be the leak of the non-public phone number, however that vulnerability has been widely known since 2019 (and has been resolved by Facebook), so there's nothing new here?

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