A recent Facebook data breached has affected almost half a billion people worldwide, including CEO and co-founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg. Data of 533 million people from 106 countries have been leaked, including phone numbers, Facebook IDs, birthdays, emails, etc.
What can you do? Well, make sure you have a strong new password or maybe activate 2 Factor Authentication to make sure you’re secure. But, if you are curious and want to check if your details were leaked in the recent Facebook data breach (or any data breach ever), this is the right place for you. You can check if you were the part of recently leaked Facebook data of 533 million people by following the two ways given below.
1. Have I Been Pwned:
Founded by Troy Hunt, Microsoft Regional Director, and MVP, the website lets you check if your email and phone number have been breached in any data breach. It will let your account with that particular email, or phone number was ever part of any data breach. All you have to do is follow the link to Have I Been Pwned and enter your phone or email address. Search, and you will find the number of data breaches that your email or phone was part of. Make sure to secure your password afterward.
2. The News Each Day:
This website lets you check if you were part of the recent Facebook data breach by entering your number. However, it only lets you search US numbers that were part of the data breach. Hence, only US users can check their phone numbers by following the link to The News Each Day. The tool has been recommended by The Verge and Gizmodo; however, before you follow the link to this website, there’s a discussion thread on Hacker News where it is recommended not to share phone numbers on the website. The website owner clarifies on the website that there’s no such thing that’s happening; here’s his full statement:
“The first version of this tool received some skepticism on Hacker News and elsewhere because it sent the phone number to the server, which I could be saving. I’m not, but it’s impossible to prove. This version generates random phone numbers that start with the same five digits as your number and sends 99 fake and one real number to the server, so it can’t know which is the real number.
You can check the source of this page, and it should be easy to verify it’s doing what I claim. As with the previous version, the server is not saving anything you enter.”
So, this is how you can check your email or phone number for any data breach and secure your accounts by changing passwords or activating two-factor authentication. Make sure you save the backup codes before activating 2FA, or you will end up losing your account.