Comprehensive Report: Facebook Data Breach and Security Concerns

This report provides an in-depth analysis of the Facebook data breach, focusing on the security vulnerabilities that led to the exposure of millions of users' data. It examines the exploitation of cloud network technologies and the role of cybercrime in data leakage. The report highlights the 'View As' feature bug, which hackers exploited, and discusses the impact on user privacy and the economy. It also explores the use of PII (Personally Identifying Information) and the need for enhanced security measures, including cryptographic techniques like RSA. Furthermore, the report includes a business case study outlining the timeline of the breach and its consequences, along with recommendations for Facebook to improve its security infrastructure and data management practices. The report emphasizes the importance of data privacy and the need for a decentralized system to protect user information. The paper also mentions the strength and weakness of the provided research paper.

Wireless sensor network
Abstract— This assignment is based on the identification of
security breaches due to the rise of cloud networks usage on
various social networking sites like LinkedIn, Facebook etc. It
has reflected on the aspects on the implementation of cloud
network technologies for overall enhancements of a website.
However, it included about the exploitation of details of users by
criminal minded people who committed such cybercrime for
personal profits.
Keywords— data privacy, data storage management system,
RSA (Random Sequence Algorithm), PII (Personally Identifying
Information)
I. INTRODUCTION (HEADING 1)
This particular paper will provide the insight of security
breaches which arise due to cloud network and usage of
different networking sites. The paper will reflect upon one of
the latest case study about Facebook which faced problem like
that of data leakage of its millions of users.
II. LITERATURE
With advent of several technological advancements,
security breaches have become a menace for any organization's
reputation and credibility in the marketplaces. When Facebook
faced its first criticism in terms of data privacy, it became
evident that its interface is vulnerable to security threats and
companies might use it to collect information of their users to
gain an upper hand. From the study of [1], cloud network is
one of the essential tools for such social media platforms which
provide access with the help of a third-party provider. Here, all
the networking resources get entrée using internet based
technologies.
This has been proved as an issue for creating complex
interactions between the company's software and data storage
management system in context to use of digital keys,
authentication and encryption. Along with this, the major
utilisation is an enhanced disaster recovery which assists in
retrieving data during any compromises or crisis as per [2].
There are also additional benefits such as maintenance of data
through back up and storing files in more flexible and
convenient ways but despite having a bug bounty program,
Facebook suffered due to lack of strong and secure
infrastructure [3].
Figure 1: Facebook data breach
III. BUSINESS CASE
The above case is time-lined on the data breach of
Facebook's accounts during the month of September in 2018.
Their technical team monitored few discrepancies on the
provided interface. There were many cases that showed
number of unusual users' activities which directly reflected that
hacking had been conducted and stole the data through this
organized cybercrime. Additionally, it shed light on the access
to all the private information in context to personal details of a
user like Birth-date, name, gender, mobile-number etc. [4]. In
this context, Facebook logged out approximately ninety million
people out of their website, citing reasons that were shocking
and essential to safeguard the overall security.
In addition, the above scenario depicted the onset of
executing the operation's using the cloud storage. However, the
side-effects that have been shown also brought wide attention
where privacy and confidentiality aspects in association with
users have been exploited. Along with, there was an uncertain
determination on the extent of damage this issue has impacted
on this company on the whole. It has been demonstrated that
their profile were affected without any leakage of any credit
card information or unethical activities like stealing of data.
IV. ANALYSIS
This case study is based on the compromises and constant
vulnerabilities of Facebook that has been plaguing this
company in the last couple of years. In this regard, fifty million
Facebook accounts had been hacked and termed under a new
data breach. Herein, Facebook's prominent feature “View As”
had a bug which was vigorously exploited by the hackers. This
feature gave the user to check their profile page in similar
terms when any new or existing contact would see. However,
due to the presence of three bugs, this View as was corrupted

and created a gap, leading to data breach by stealing the users'
information without their knowledge.
The real triggered point came into picture when the video-
uploading feature was rearranged and gave the users new add-
ons to attract upload special videos, memes or post pictures on
someone's birthday or any special occasion.'. This impacted the
firewall and led to formation of cracks which is once lost
cannot be retained [5]. For instance, Facebook has been in
business with apps like WhatsApp, Instagram and are in
partnerships with number of applications/websites. Here, the
focus was that hackers or spammers once acquire a user's
profile, then they have the capacity to monitor all the
happenings of that specific person. This is mainly due to the
similar details while login and using the attached multimedia
platforms like Instagram etc.
Furthermore, this event puts additional pressure on the
economic aspects and of national security as well. There are
huge risks that rose such as identity theft, lack of law
enforcements, no fixing of access tokens in relation to the
affected accounts, inadequate security issues, illegal use of
Personal Information and more. Currently, Facebook disabled
their features like 'view as', 'happy birthday posts' and are
undergoing the law enforcement system for bringing renew-
ment and have started using two-factor setup authentication.
Along with, they have understood that little quantification has
been related to this situation since the extent of such privacy
concerns are ambiguous and leads to difficulties for the users.
It has made spiralling effects both in economic terms and
security concerns regarding to their digital, reputation and legal
risks.
Lastly, the major recommendation to be followed is to have
a de-centralized system with a distributed architecture to
protect the security measures of the users of Facebook with the
help of using any cryptographic techniques such as digital
signature or RSA (Random Sequence Algorithm). Moreover,
they must try to build an environment where tools are advanced
and improved and support in maintaining the defaults and
sharing of any personal details including individual's location,
address, social security numbers, contact family details and
such whereabouts [6]. Further, the PII (Personally Identifying
Information) is one of the essential components that need
special attention. For e.g. when Facebook uses details like
mobile number or email address, the users “sync” this
information with other apps, leading to heightened threats for
the company's designing and technical team to curb this entire
crisis in more effective ways. This must be looked into by
specifying who could access to the details listed on Facebook
profile, next is to custom the lists in accordance to priorities
and also restrict the users and then fixing the ads preferences
page by customization step given on its page.
Strength of paper- The paper which is chosen for this
research is having correct and valid bases for information in
relation to the topic. As the information which is provided in
paper may not be reliable but we could be get a source for the
data within it. Furthermore this is also having clear and
understandable language which is very much necessary so that
study is in-depth. So this is regarded to as strength of this
paper.
Weakness of paper- While on other hand there are also
certain weakness of paper like reliability is one of the most
important factor. As the research may not be reliable in every
point of time when it is been written or summarized.
CONCLUSION
It has been summarized that it is high time that
Facebook must act responsibly and provide a more secure and
full-proof environment that would assist their customers to
connect and share the events, news and other emotions in
more authentic order. Along with, few suggestions have been
laid out to come out of this scenario and generating awareness
among the users while handling their Facebook profiles.
REFERENCES
[1] Dong, Jing, John M. Green, Phyllis Gallagher, Aswini
Kumar, Anupriya Ramraj, and Burton Akira Hipp.
"Maintain a service on a cloud network based on a
scale rule." U.S. Patent Application 10/057,139, filed
August 21, 2018.
[2] Liu, Liyuan, Meng Han, Yan Wang, and Yiyun Zhou.
"Understanding Data Breach: A Visualization
Aspect." In International Conference on Wireless
Algorithms, Systems, and Applications, pp. 883-892.
Springer, Cham, 2018.
[3] CloudNaaS: A Cloud Networking Platform for
Enterprise Applications. [Online]. Accessed through:
<http://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~tbenson/papers/CloudNaaS
.pdf>.
[4] van Schaik, Paul, Jurjen Jansen, Joseph Onibokun,
Jean Camp, and Petko Kusev. "Security and privacy
in online social networking: Risk perceptions and
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[5] Udo, Godwin, Kallol Bagchi, and Peeter Kirs.
"ANALYSIS OF THE GROWTH OF SECURITY
BREACHES: A MULTI-GROWTH MODEL
APPROACH." Issues in Information Systems 19. no.
4 (2018).
[6] Mishra, Nishit, Tarun Kumar Sharma, Varun Sharma,
and Vrince Vimal. "Secure Framework for Data
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Theories and Applications. pp. 61-71. Springer,
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