MORE APPS LOOTING OUR DATA THROUGH FACEBOOK

Was Cambridge Analytica data breach of 87 million users, less shocking? Here is another shocker from Facebook.

Ime Archibong, VP of Product Partnerships Facebook has reported yesterday, 14 May 2018, that FB has suspended 200 more Apps functioning on Facebook apprehending data misuse by them. Earlier Marc Zuckerberg has made clear before US Senators, that FB had concerns about individual apps and they would audit them — and any app that either refused or failed an audit would be banned from Facebook.

According to FB, the investigation and audit process is in full swing, and it has two phases. First, a comprehensive review to identify every app that had access to Facebook user’s data. And second, where FB have concerns, FB will conduct interviews, make requests for information (RFI) — which ask a series of detailed questions about the app and the data it has access to — and perform audits that may include on-site inspections.

The release further reports, “We have large teams of internal and external experts working hard to investigate these apps as quickly as possible. To date thousands of apps have been investigated and around 200 have been suspended — pending a thorough investigation into whether they did in fact misuse any data. Where we find evidence that these or other apps did misuse data, we will ban them and notify people via FB website. It will show people if they or their friends installed an app that misused data before 2015 — just as FB did for Cambridge Analytica. There is a lot more work to be done to find all the apps that may have misused people’s Facebook data – and it will take time. We are investing heavily to make sure this investigation is as thorough and timely as possible. We will keep you updated on our progress.”

So it’s clear that 200 more apps have been primarily identified by FB investigation team involved in unethical practises and still all the apps investigation is not complete. This number is certainly to increase. Now if one single app of Mr. Kogan can threaten 87 millions users’ data out of 200 million users of FB, then what could be number of users, whose data might be compromised, through these 200 apps?
This acknowledgment of FB should be seen as an eye-opener by governments across the world and they should immediately review their privacy laws and act proactively for protection of data of the citizen. In pursuit of free information we have made huge mistake by using these social media apps and now will be required to pay heavy price in coming days.
And the real question is, if these 200 apps have also sold our data then what happens? Whom should we held liable for the data breach? Civil and Criminal action should be initiated against whom? How can we consider ourselves safe in cyberspace? Who will ensure safety and security of our data in cyberspace?

Hope we are able to find out answers to above questions.