The European Union fines Meta for a serious error that allowed the hacking of millions of accounts

The platform security breach occurred due to a vulnerability in the Facebookwhich allowed cybercriminals to take advantage of the “View As” function, which allows users to view their profile from the outside, just as their contacts see it.

Due to this bug, the personal data of millions of users, including their full name, contact details, location, place of work, date of birth, religion, gender and even their children’s data, were decrypted by the attackers.

This situation continued for two weeks, during which Facebook He did not notice the attack. It is estimated that cybercriminals had access to the data of at least 29 million of Facebook accounts. Three million, for their part, resided in the European Union, according to a statement from the Commission.

“Failure to incorporate data protection requirements throughout the design and development cycle can expose people to very serious risks and harms, including a risk to fundamental rights and freedoms,” it stated. Graham Doyleresponsible for the organization’s communication.

“By allowing unauthorized exposure of profile information, the vulnerabilities following the attack caused a serious risk to this type of data,” he added. Doyle. The presence of American technology companies such as Google or Appleapart from Meta, in Ireland, responds to the tax benefit of establishing itself in that country, due to its low tax rate.

This is why the Irish Data Protection Commission is in charge of ensuring user privacy, enforcing competition laws and fighting misinformation. In the past, the CPD had already imposed fines on Meta, and the total amount amounts to three billion euros. These sanctions find their legal basis in the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which in 2018 made the Union a pioneer in the regulation of this matter.

On the other hand, Goal She was quick to defend herself against the accusations leveled at her. The tech giant argued that as soon as it discovered the security breach, they rushed to remedy it, and the DPC confirms this statement. “We took immediate action to address the issue as soon as it was identified, and proactively informed affected individuals as well as the Irish Data Protection Commission,” said a spokesman of Goal.

Likewise, the company has stated that it plans to appeal the fine, arguing that it has a host of measures in place and in place to ensure the safety of its users. In 2023, the DPC fined Meta for more than billion eurosand currently both institutions continue to battle through the appeal of technology.