Facebook glitch exposed phone numbers, e-mail addresses of six million users

Facebook recently disclosed a bug found in their “Download Your Information” tool that accidentally exposed some members’ contact information. As a result, approximately six million users may have had their e-mail addresses or phone numbers exposed to another person according to a post on the social network’s security blog.

The post notes that describing the bug can get pretty technical but basically, here’s what happened. In the event that you elected to download a copy of your data using the above mentioned “Download Your Information” tool, there’s a change that the archive may have included the e-mail address or phone number for contacts or people with whom you have some connection.

The information is said to come from other people on Facebook and thus may not be accurate but either way, it was inadvertently included with the contacts of the person using the DYI tool. Facebook said the bug was patched within 24 hours of being reported.

Speaking of, the bug seemingly slipped past Facebook’s technical team and was reported earlier this month through their White Hat program. If you are unfamiliar, Facebook offers security researchers monetary rewards (minimum of $500) in exchange for information about bugs and security holes.

At present, the social network has no evidence that the bug was exploited in a malicious behavior and they have not received any complaints from users that would suggest any wrongdoing. As such, the impact of the bug is expected to be minimal.

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Facebook officially announces support for hashtags

Facebook on Wednesday announced official support for hashtags after a successful run on other services like Instagram and Twitter. They’ve become a “vital part of popular culture” and since they’re already used organically on the social network anyway, they decided to make them a true feature.

In a blog post on the topic, Facebook said hashtags will now be clickable. This will allow users to see a feed of what other people are saying about a particular event or topic. Furthermore, users will now be able to search for a specific hashtag from the search bar, click on hashtags that originate from other services like Instagram and compose posts directly from the hashtag feed and search results.
The social network points out that, like always, users will be able to control the audience for a post, even when using hashtags.

We’re told that hashtags are just the first step in helping people more easily discover what others are talking about with regards to a specific topic or event. They plan to roll out more features in the coming weeks and months such as trending hashtags and deeper insights.

Rumors surfaced back in March that Facebook would be implementing hashtags, a feature that was made famous in 2007. If you aren’t familiar, hashtags are words or phrases that are prefixed with the # symbol and are used to group together all posts about a similar event or topic.

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