Analyzing Facebook's Data Breach: Security Issues and Solutions

This case study delves into the 2018 Facebook data breach, where personal data of 30 million users was stolen, highlighting critical security vulnerabilities within the platform. It addresses issues such as the implementation of Beacon, which led to unauthorized sharing of user activities, and the use of Instant Personalization, which risked leaking information to affiliated sites. The study proposes mitigation strategies, including increasing password robustness with two-way authentication systems and implementing off-site data storage to protect data from unauthorized access. It underscores the importance of robust security measures in digital platforms to safeguard user data and prevent future breaches. Desklib provides similar solved assignments for students.

Running head: DATA BREACH
DATA BREACH
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

1
DATA BREACH
The chosen Company is Facebook
Facebook is one of the leading digital platforms that helps in better establishing
contacts in between the users of Facebook.
Recently Facebook has faced a data breaching issue in the year 2018. Personal data of
30 million users of Facebook was stolen.
Issues of securing Backups in Facebook
1. Implementation of Beacon: In case of implementation of Beacon the main issue
that exists includes popping up of regular activities in wall of Facebook. This leads to the fact
that the personal data gets shared with all the people without even proper authorization of the
user. Location tracking gets very easy due to this process (Esteve 2017).
2. Usage of Instant Personalization: In this case the major issue that is present
includes leaking of information to the affiliated sites. For example, Facebook might share the
new of the user’s favourite sports team with the new channel so that the sports channel can
display appropriate news for every individual (Kosinski et al 2015).
Mitigation process
Measures that must be taken in order to mitigate the risk regarding the security
includes increase robustness in password. Increasing robustness in password is the first
measure that must be taken in order to secure the system. Usage of 2-way authentication
system will also be beneficial. In this process the password will be secured with questions
that will be set by the user himself (Giraldo et al 2017). Only after answering the questions
and providing the password gaining access to the Facebook will be possible.
Off-Site Data Storage

2
DATA BREACH
With the help of off-site data storage, the data will be stored in the database that is
present in a separate location, which will help in securing the data from unauthorized access
of imposters.

3
DATA BREACH
References
Esteve, A. (2017). The business of personal data: Google, Facebook, and privacy issues in the
EU and the USA. International Data Privacy Law, 7(1), 36-47.
Giraldo, J., Sarkar, E., Cardenas, A. A., Maniatakos, M., & Kantarcioglu, M. (2017). Security
and privacy in cyber-physical systems: A survey of surveys. IEEE Design &
Test, 34(4), 7-17.
Kosinski, M., Matz, S. C., Gosling, S. D., Popov, V., & Stillwell, D. (2015). Facebook as a
research tool for the social sciences: Opportunities, challenges, ethical considerations,
and practical guidelines. American Psychologist, 70(6), 543.