Senator Mark Warner (D-VA) has issued a severe reprimand to Facebook for today's revelation that a hacker had stolen his access token to 50 million users. "This is another cautionary indicator that Congress should step up and take steps to protect the privacy and safety of social media users," writes Warner. As I said before, the Wild West era on social media has ended. "
In July, Warner published an extensive policy document in which he believes that regulation is necessary for social media companies. Companies that own large datasets are regulated as "information fiduciaries" with additional consequences for inadequate security, suggesting requirements for portability and interoperability of data that allow users to export their personal information and use it elsewhere if not They are satisfied with the treatment they receive from a social networking giant, and also recommends applying similar rules in the US to the GDPR in Europe, including the requirement that infractions be disclosed within 72 hours after the discovery. Facebook revealed this trick inside that window.
[Update:thecommissioneroftheFTCRohitChopraahora tweet that "I want answers" regarding Facebook's hack, which further strengthens the possibility that today's problem calls more for regulation.] CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote today that "although I'm glad I found this, solved the vulnerability and secured the accounts that may be at risk, the reality is that we have to continue developing new tools to prevent this from happening ". happening first. "
Facebook's" See Like "tool has been disabled after the hack Sophisticated intruders combined three Facebook bugs into their video loader, user profile, and" see as "privacy feature to generate and steal access tokens that allow users to see how their profile looked to another user
to stay connected to Facebook between sessions.These could potentially be used to take over user accounts. Facebook says there is no evidence of that hackers have accessed users' private messages or posted them on their behalf, but CEO Mark Zuckerberg confirmed in a call with reporters that before Facebook solved the problem last night, hackers tried to consult the Facebook API for the names of users, places of origin, genres and possibly more.
Facebook has reset access tokens of 50 million u suarios impacted plus another 40 million who have seen their accounts through the tool "see as" this year. That means they will have to log in again on Facebook, but they will not have to change their password.
The errors come from the code that was sent in July, but Facebook only discovered the problem on Tuesday afternoon when the pirates tried to scale the attack to steal more tokens. Facebook patched the problem last night and this morning announced that it was investigating, but currently does not have enough information to determine the origin of the attack. He already notified the FBI, as well as the Irish data protection office, since the violation has GDPR implications.
In a call with reporters, CEO Mark Zuckerberg repeatedly called the problem "serious." But beyond counting the steps that Facebook is taking to address this gap, I did not have a good answer about why users should still trust Facebook with their data.
Always quick to attack privacy issues, Warner has become one of the strongest Democratic Critics of the social network. Apparently, he inherited the position of technological watchdog of former senator Al Franken. He has influenced the recent bias of social networks and electoral interference, Google's plan to launch censored searches in China, the White House's cybersecurity plans and more. With technology becoming an increasingly important and dangerous part of people's lives, Warner seems to see an opportunity to protect its members and advance their careers by demonstrating their expertise and ferocity.
This trick could be by Warner as strong evidence that media companies like Facebook are not doing enough to protect the security and privacy of users. If regulations on security, portability and interoperability are enacted, it could cost Facebook money for compliance, reduce the pace of engineering innovation in the company and make it more vulnerable to competition.
Zuckerberg has responded that regulation could actually protect Facebook from disruption by making it harder for new social networks to accumulate the treasure of data it has. He also believes that regulation could slow American technology companies, thus giving advantages to Chinese alternatives in their fight for international markets such as India and Brazil.
At this time, it is difficult for users to easily switch from Facebook to another social network, which isolates Facebook from its public relations problems becoming problems of user growth. But if removing a competitor's Facebook is simplified, it could force the company to better treat its users.
The complete statement by Senator Mark Warner can be found below:
DECLARATION OF SEN. MARK R. WARNER
~ In Facebook hack ~
WASHINGTON – American Senator Mark R. Warner (D -VA), Vice Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee and co-chair of the Senate Cybersecurity Committee, issued the following statement about Facebook's announcement that it discovered a security problem affecting nearly 50 million accounts:
"News that at least 50 Millions of Facebook users had their accounts compromised is deeply troubling.A full investigation should be conducted quickly and made public so that we can understand more about what happened.
"Today's disclosure is a reminder about the dangers that they present when a small number of companies like Facebook or the Equifax credit agency can accumulate so much personal data about individual Americans without security measures adequate.
"This is another cautionary indicator that Congress should step up and take measures to protect the privacy and safety of social media users, as I said before, the era of the Wild West on social media is over."
To begin the debate on the legislation of social networks, Senator Warner launched in July a white paper with a set of possible policy proposals for the regulation of social networks.