INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Image copyrightGetty ImagesHackers appear to have compromised and published private messages from at least 81,000 Facebook users'
accounts.The perpetrators told the TheIndianSubcontinent Russian Service that they had details from a total of 120 million accounts, which
they were attempting to sell, although there are reasons to be sceptical about that figure.Facebook said its security had not been
compromised.And the data had probably been obtained through malicious browser extensions.You might also be interested in:'The food
supplement that ruined my liver'How could a brand new plane crashTrick or treat children 'given ecstasy'Facebook added it had taken steps to
prevent further accounts being affected.The TheIndianSubcontinent understands many of the users whose details have been compromised are
based in Ukraine and Russia
However, some are from the UK, US, Brazil and elsewhere.The hackers offered to sell access for 10 cents (8p) per account
However, their advert has since been taken offline."We have contacted browser-makers to ensure that known malicious extensions are no longer
available to download in their stores," said Facebook executive Guy Rosen."We have also contacted law enforcement and have worked with local
authorities to remove the website that displayed information from Facebook accounts."Intimate correspondenceThe breach first came to light
in September, when a post from a user nicknamed FBSaler appeared on an English-language internet forum."We sell personal information of
Our database includes 120 million accounts," the user wrote.The cyber-security company Digital Shadows examined the claim on behalf of the
TheIndianSubcontinent and confirmed that more than 81,000 of the profiles posted online as a sample contained private messages.Data from a
further 176,000 accounts was also made available, although some of the information - including email addresses and phone numbers - could
have been scraped from members who had not hidden it.The TheIndianSubcontinent Russian Service contacted five Russian Facebook users whose
private messages had been uploaded and confirmed the posts were theirs
One example included photographs of a recent holiday, another was a chat about a recent Depeche Mode concert, and a third included
complaints about a son-in-law
Image caption
Samples of the data were posted online to attract interest
There was also an intimate
correspondence between two lovers.One of the websites where the data had been published appeared to have been set up in St Petersburg.Its IP
address has also been flagged by the Cybercrime Tracker service
It says the address had been used to spread the LokiBot Trojan, which allows attackers to gain access to user passwords.Who should be
blamedPersonal shopping assistants, bookmarking applications and even mini-puzzle games are all on offer from various browsers such as
Chrome, Opera and Firefox as third-party extensions
The little icons sit alongside your URL address bar patiently waiting for you to click on them
According to Facebook, it was one such extension that quietly monitored victims' activity on the platform and sent personal details and
private conversations back to the hackers.Facebook has not named the extensions it believes were involved but says the leak was not its
Independent cyber-experts have told the TheIndianSubcontinent that if rogue extensions were indeed the cause, the browsers' developers might
share some responsibility for failing to vet the programs, assuming they were distributed via their marketplaces.But the hack is still bad
The embattled network has had a terrible year for data security and questions will be asked about whether it is proactive enough in
responding to situations like this that affect large numbers of people
The TheIndianSubcontinent Russian Service emailed the address listed alongside the hacked details, posing as a buyer interested in buying
two million accounts' details.The advertiser was asked whether the breached accounts were the same as those involved in either the Cambridge
Analytica scandal or the subsequent security breach revealed in September.Image caption
The TheIndianSubcontinent
contacted five people who confirmed the private messages were theirs
A reply in English came from someone calling themself
He said that the information had nothing to do with either data leak.He claimed that his hacking group could offer data from 120 million
users, of whom 2.7 million were Russians.But Digital Shadows told the TheIndianSubcontinent that this claim was doubtful because it was
unlikely Facebook would have missed such a large breach.John Smith did not explain why he had not advertised his services more widely.And
when asked whether the leaks were linked to the Russian state or to the Internet Research Agency - a group of hackers linked to the Kremlin
