According to Meta, millions of Facebook users’ credentials may have been stolen as a result of rogue third-party programmes.
The company’s security experts have released a fresh report alerting customers to over 400 scam applications aimed to steal Facebook credentials.
The report claims that these apparently harmless apps were disguised as “fun or helpful” services such as photo editors, camera apps, health tracking apps, VPN services, and others.
These apps, like many others, included a “Log in with Facebook” option to make it easier for you. These login features, however, were only used to harvest Facebook passwords.
David Agranovich, Meta’s Director of Threat Disruption, stated that the majority of these apps had little to no functionality of their own. During a media briefing, he stated:
Many of the apps had little to no functionality until you logged in, and the majority of them had no functionality even after you accepted to login.
These malicious apps were accessible on both the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store, however the majority of them were Android apps.
The Android applications were primarily consumer apps like picture filters, while the 47 iOS apps were “business utility” apps, according to Meta.
The names on the list include “Very Business Manager,” “Meta Business,” “FB Analytic,” “Ads Business Knowledge,” and others.
Meta was quick to inform Apple and Google of its findings, while also issuing cautions to 1 million users who may have used the applications. Users were informed that their Facebook account information may have been hacked.
All of these apps have been taken from Apple and Google’s respective app stores, according to both companies. In a statement, a Google official said:
All of the apps mentioned in the study have been removed from Google Play. Google Play Protect, which blocks harmful applications on Android, also protects users.
