I previously covered data breaches and phone port out scam which impacted T-Mobile customers most. Unless you have been hiding from the news, it’s hard to miss the recent fallout between Facebook/Cambridge Analytica and the misuse of Facebook data.
How to Check if Your Facebook Data was Shared
Facebook came out with a tool to help you check if your data was shared with Cambridge Analytica:
Facebook’s Help Center (Link)
(You need to log into your Facebook account).
Fortunately, I was not one of the estimated 87 million people impacted, according to this article.
What Can You Do
The worst part is that once the data is of your ‘trusted’ company’s hands, it’s really out of their hands. Things you can do after the fact (i.e. freezing credit reports or getting a year of credit monitoring) are merely ways to limit the impact of the breach.
It’s no different for Facebook. The data had been harvested by 3rd parties.
Still, in the meantime, you can review Facebook settings and remove your data access to 3rd parties that you no longer want or need.
If you are impacted by this incident, there is also the class-action lawsuit that is bound to hit Facebook.
On a slightly more positive note, this incident is — at least — driving larger conversations around data privacy, and perhaps the need for some regulations or oversight to protect user data.
I hope something concrete comes out of this incident. We’ll see where this goes.
Are you impacted by this data “misuse”? Are you planning to keep Facebook or is this incident frustrating enough that you’re ready to deactivate your account?
