cross pond high tech

The data includes phone numbers, Facebook IDs, full names, locations, birthdates, bios, and, in some cases, email addresses.

• The personal data of over 500 million Facebook users was posted in a low-level hacking forum.
• It includes phone numbers, full names, locations, email addresses, and biographical information.
• Security researchers say hackers could use the data to impersonate people and commit fraud.
• See more stories on Insider's business page.

 

A user in a low-level hacking forum on Saturday published the phone numbers and personal data of hundreds of millions of Facebook users for free.

 

The exposed data includes the personal information of over 533 million Facebook users from 106 countries, including over 32 million records on users in the US, 11 million on users in the UK, and 6 million on users in India. It includes their phone numbers, Facebook IDs, full names, locations, birthdates, bios, and, in some cases, email addresses.

 

Insider reviewed a sample of the leaked data and verified several records by matching known Facebook users' phone numbers with the IDs listed in the data set. We also verified records by testing email addresses from the data set in Facebook's password-reset feature, which can be used to partially reveal a user's phone number.

 

A Facebook spokesperson told Insider that the data had been scraped because of a vulnerability that the company patched in 2019.

 

While it's a couple of years old, the leaked data could prove valuable to cybercriminals who use people's personal information to impersonate them or scam them into handing over login credentials, according to Alon Gal, the chief technology officer of the cybercrime intelligence firm Hudson Rock, who discovered the trough of leaked data on Saturday.

 

"A database of that size containing the private information such as phone numbers of a lot of Facebook's users would certainly lead to bad actors taking advantage of the data to perform social-engineering attacks [or] hacking attempts," Gal told Insider.

Gal discovered the leaked data in January when a user in the same hacking forum advertised an automated bot that could provide phone numbers for hundreds of millions of Facebook users for a price. Motherboard reported on that bot's existence at the time and verified that the data was legitimate.

 

Now the data set has been posted on the hacking forum for free, making it available to anyone with rudimentary data skills.

Insider attempted to reach the leaker through the messaging app Telegram but did not get a response.

 

This is not the first time that lots of Facebook users' phone numbers have been found exposed online. The vulnerability uncovered in 2019 allowed millions of phone numbers to be scraped from Facebook's servers in violation of its terms of service. Facebook said that vulnerability was patched in August 2019.

 

Facebook vowed to crack down on mass data-scraping after Cambridge Analytica scraped the data of over 80 million users in violation of Facebook's terms of service to target voters with political ads in the 2016 election.

 

Gal said that from a security standpoint there wasn't much Facebook could do to help users affected by the breach since their data is already out in the open, but he added that Facebook could notify users so they could remain vigilant about phishing schemes or fraud using their data.

 

"Individuals signing up to a reputable company like Facebook are trusting them with their data, and Facebook [is] supposed to treat the data with utmost respect," Gal said. "Users having their personal information leaked is a huge breach of trust and should be handled accordingly."

This site compares secure messaging apps from a security & privacy point of view. These include Facebook Messenger, iMessage, Skype, Signal, Google Allo, Threema, Riot, Wire, Telegram, and Wickr. The best secure messaging app?

Facebook last year grounded its ambitious plan to develop a solar-powered drone to beam internet across the world, but the company isn’t done with the concept, it seems. The social media giant is working with aeronautics giant Airbus to test drones in Australia, according to a new report from Germany’s NetzPolitik.

Using a request under Australia’s Freedom of Information Act, NetzPolitik got hold of a document that shows the two companies spent last year in talks over a collaboration with test flights scheduled for November and December 2018. The duo have collaborated before on communication systems for satellite drones.

 

Those trials — and it isn’t clear if they took place — involved the use of Airbus’ Zephyr drone, a model that is designed for “defence, humanitarian and environmental missions.” The Zephyr is much like Facebook’s now-deceased Aquila drone blueprint; it is a HAPS — “High Altitude Pseudo Satellite” — that uses solar power and can fly for “months.”

• Facebook is building a "hardware prototype testing facility" to test experimental communications hardware in the New Mexico desert.
• Earlier this year, Facebook abandoned plans to build autonomous drones that would supply wireless internet to the developing world.
• But Federal Communications Commission filings seen by Business Insider indicate Facebook hasn't given up on hardware connectivity and continues to actively test in the US.
• Expanding the global population of people with access to the internet will be essential for the 2.3 billion-user social network's growth in years to come.

Just looking at numbers :)It’s probably irrelevant to compare those two separeted events. 5 years have passed, there are two times more smartphones and Facebook has successfully managed to become a highly growing & profitable company through incredible strategic moves: Instagram, Oculus, Whatsapp just to name a few.In May 2012, Facebook was valued 104 billions, after having raised 2.5B in venture capital and 16B at the IPO. Many people said it was overvalued. Now it’s easy to say it, but I remember at the time how impressed I was by the moves of Mark Zuckerberg and how obvious it felt to me that Facebook would be worth more than 200B in less than 2 years. It actually happened. And it’s now worth close to 400B.

This is where Facebook will prototype its solar drones, Internet-beaming lasers, VR headsets, and next-gen servers.The problem with moving faster than most companies is that Facebook was plagued by delays whenever it had to outsource prototyping and testing of its gadgets and gizmos. With so much hardware on its 10-year roadmap, and quarter after quarter of profits stacking up, it made sense to build a dedicated laboratory within its Menlo Park headquarters.

Most people think of Amazon as an online shopping store, but it's actually much more than that.

Over the past 22 years, Amazon has turned itself into a $275 billion juggernaut that sells everything from cloud-computing services to its own hardware gadgets.

It will even be making approx $10 Bn in revenue this year from its cloud computing enterprise services.

These 17 charts show just how scary its business really is.

Ce 14 janvier, Alon Gal, chercheur en sécurité informatique, a découvert qu'un bot Telegram commercialise une base de données contenant les numéros de téléphone de 533 millions d'internautes inscrits sur Facebook, rapportent nos confrères de Motherboard. Il n'est pas rare que des informations de cet acabit se retrouvent sur des forums ou sur des marchés noirs du dark web. Par contre, il est plus rare que ces données soient monnayées via une application de messagerie comme Telegram.

Moyennant rémunération, le bot permet aux internautes de retrouver le numéro de téléphone lié à un compte Facebook, ou inversement. Il s'agit d'un processus entièrement automatisé. Pour obtenir un seul numéro de téléphone, il faut débourser la somme de 20 dollars, vendu sous la forme d'un crédit. Evidemment, le bot offre une remise aux internautes qui souhaitent acheter une importante quantité de données. Ainsi, l'achat de 10 000 crédits est proposé à 5000 dollars.

Apple shut down Google’s ability to distribute its internal iOS apps earlier today. A person familiar with the situation told The Verge that early versions of Google Maps, Hangouts, Gmail, and other pre-release beta apps stopped working alongside employee-only apps like a Gbus app for transportation and Google’s internal cafe app. The block came after Google was found to be in violation of Apple’s app distribution policy, and followed a similar shutdown that was issued to Facebook earlier this week.

TechCrunch and Bloomberg’s Mark Bergen reported late Thursday that the apps’ functionality had been restored; Apple appears to have worked more closely with Google to fix this situation. “We are working together with Google to help them reinstate their enterprise certificates very quickly,” an Apple spokesperson earlier told BuzzFeed.

APPLE BLOCKED FACEBOOK AND THEN GOOGLE
Apple’s move to block Google’s developer certificate comes just a day after Google disabled its Screenwise Meter app following press coverage. Google’s private app was designed to monitor how people use their iPhones, similar to Facebook’s research app. Google’s app also relied on Apple’s enterprise program, which enables the distribution of internal apps within a company.

In an earlier statement over Facebook’s certificate removal, Apple did warn that “any developer using their enterprise certificates to distribute apps to consumers will have their certificates revoked.” Facebook’s internal iOS apps have since resumed functioning, as the social network said this afternoon that Apple had restored its enterprise certificate.

Apple is clearly sticking to its rules and applying them equally to Facebook, Google, and likely many other companies that get caught breaking Apple’s rules in the future.

There’s growing evidence that a number of companies are using Apple’s enterprise program to distribute apps to consumers. iOS developer Alex Fajkowski has discovered that Amazon, DoorDash, and Sonos all distribute beta versions of their apps to non-employees. Apple may be forced to take action against these apps, or to even revamp its entire enterprise program in the future.

Update 1/31, 5:45PM ET: Article updated with comment from Google, Apple, and details on other companies using Apple’s enterprise program to distribute apps.

Update 1/31: 6:18PM ET: Updated with the news that Apple has resumed letting Facebook use internal iOS apps.

Update 1/31: 10:30PM ET: Updated with the news that Apple has restored functionality to Google’s apps.

"Last year we developed CT-Scan, a service that helped us understand the performance implications of code changes and decrease the number of software regressions. When a commit lands in a repository, CT-Scan performs a build and runs performance tests, such as cold and warm start, feed scroll performance, and battery consumption. The results are plotted and engineers can learn whether they're causing an issue with a new build.

Initially, engineers tested code by running CT-Scan on a single device that they had at their desks. This didn't scale — we needed to be able to run tests on more than 2,000 mobile devices to account for all the combinations of device hardware, operating systems, and network connections that people use to connect on Facebook. Today, in our Prineville data center, we have a mobile device lab — outfitted with a custom-built rack — that allows us to run tests on thousands of phones. The process of building a lab in our data center wasn't a direct path, and we learned a lot along the way as we worked to scale out the promise of CT-Scan."

Regina Dugan is leaving her position as the head of Facebook's fledgling consumer-hardware lab, Building 8, raising questions about the company's plans for ambitious initiatives like brain-reading technology and augmented-reality glasses.

Dugan said in a Facebook post on Tuesday that she was leaving to "focus on building and leading a new endeavor," though she didn't specify further.

Dugan joined Facebook 18 months ago from Google's advanced-projects division, which she famously described as a "band of pirates trying to do epic sh--." The move was celebrated at the time as a major coup for Facebook and a sign that the social network was getting serious about building hardware that would compete with Google, Amazon, and Apple.

Building 8 has yet to release a product, but the division is working on an unannounced video-chat device for the home code-named "Aloha" and expected to be released in May, Business Insider previously reported.

Building 8 has also teased more-futuristic work on brain-scanning technology that would allow people to type with their thoughts.

A Facebook spokesperson told BI that Bosworth would continue to lead Oculus and Building 8 but declined to say whether the company would seek a replacement for Dugan.

Dugan's time at the helm of Building 8 has not been smooth.

The group has seen several key departures in its short history, including its COO, Richard Wooldridge, its head of consumer experience, Donald Hicks, and its head of product management, Olivier Bartholot, according to people familiar with the matter.

Facebook et Orange, en tant que membres du Telecom Infra Project (TIP) lancent au sein de l’Orange Fab France un nouvel accélérateur « Telecom Track », conçu spécifiquement pour soutenir les start-up centrées sur le développement des infrastructures réseau.
Les start-up sélectionnées seront accompagnées par Orange et bénéficieront d'un accès à son réseau mondial de ressources ainsi que du soutien des Ecosystem Accelerator Centres du TIP (TEAC) et de Facebook.
Orange collabore avec le TIP* et Facebook afin de soutenir des start-up centrées sur l’innovation des infrastructures réseau en lançant le nouveau « Telecom Track » dans le cadre de son programme d'accélération Orange Fab en France. Ce partenariat recherchera les meilleures innovations et talents du secteur, soutiendra et conseillera les start-up avec l’aide des experts Orange, TIP et Facebook, et facilitera en parallèle la création de réseaux et les opportunités d’investissement internes et externes.

Le « Telecom Track » d’Orange Fab France

Le projet sera géré par Orange Fab France, le programme d’accélération d’Orange pour les start-up, depuis le site d’Orange Gardens, un éco-campus situé à Châtillon, près de Paris entièrement dédié à la recherche et à l’innovation. En contact direct avec les  meilleurs experts d’Orange et de ses partenaires, les start-up pourront aborder  les questions majeures relatives aux réseaux, allant de leur gestion jusqu’aux nouvelles technologies d’accès, et ce dans plusieurs régions.
Les start-up bénéficieront de tous les avantages du programme Orange Fab existant, au sein duquel elles participeront à des ateliers dédiés et des sessions de tutorat avec des spécialistes. Elles recevront un financement optionnel de 15 000 € et auront accès à un espace de travail sur le site d’Orange Gardens, où sont basées les équipes de recherche et d'innovation du Groupe. En complément du support du réseau mondial Orange Fab, les start-up pourront consulter également des experts de la communauté du TIP, des TEAC et de Facebook. Ce cadre leur permettra d’établir des connections privilégiées avec les équipes d’innovation, les partenaires d'investissement et les investisseurs en capital-risque qui pourront leur apporter une expertise plus poussée et des financements potentiels afin de lancer de nouveaux produits et services.

L’appel à projets démarre aujourd’hui et les candidats ont jusqu’au 14 mai 2017 pour soumettre leur candidature. Trois semaines plus tard, les start-up sélectionnées rejoindront le programme d’accélération et auront l’opportunité de participer en juin à un événement de lancement organisé par Orange qui réunira des cadres d’Orange, du TIP et de Facebook, ainsi que des partenaires et investisseurs en capital-risque. Une fois avancées dans le processus d’accélération, les start-up sélectionnées seront invitées à intervenir lors d'un événement des TEAC qui se tiendra à San Francisco à la fin de l’année.
Les candidats doivent être basés en France et les projets doivent être soumis sur le site www.orangefabfrance.fr

« Dans le cadre de l’évolution de notre réseau vers la 5G et les technologies futures, l’opportunité d’innovation au niveau des réseaux est énorme, et il est essentiel de soutenir les grands esprits et les talents qui développeront l’innovation dans le domaine des télécommunications », a déclaré Mari-Noëlle Jégo-Laveissière, Vice-présidente exécutive Innovation, Marketing et Technologies d’Orange. « Nous pensons que notre partenariat avec Facebook et le lancement du nouveau Telecom Track nous permettra d’encourager et de soutenir cette communauté de start-up qui a la possibilité de faire bouger les choses au sein de cet espace et de développer de nouvelles innovations dans les télécommunications. »
« Facebook est impatient de collaborer avec Orange et le TIP afin de soutenir cet accélérateur de start-up », a déclaré Jay Parikh, Directeur Ingénierie et Infrastructure chez Facebook. « En travaillant conjointement, nous espérons aider à identifier et soutenir l’innovation des infrastructures réseau des télécommunications tout en préparant la voie vers de futures découvertes. »  

L’engagement d’Orange Digital Ventures

Afin d’accélérer encore davantage le développement des start-up participantes, Orange Digital Ventures soutiendra ce nouveau « Telecom Track » et apportera des conseils pour le financement ainsi que des opportunités de création de réseau via Corporate Venture Capital (CVC) à travers ses partenariats d’investisseurs. Orange Digital Ventures contribue d’ores et déjà activement à la transformation du paysage des télécommunications à travers son portefeuille d’investissements, et pourra éventuellement contribuer au financement de certaines des start-up participantes.

*Orange fait partie du Telecom Infra Project (TIP), une initiative mondiale centrée sur l’ingénierie qui vise à transformer l’approche traditionnelle afin de construire et de déployer des infrastructures réseau de télécommunications.

At 2AM, in the dark morning hours of June 28th, Mark Zuckerberg woke up and got on a plane. He was traveling to an aviation testing facility in Yuma, AZ, where a small Facebook team had been working on a secret project. Their mission: to design, build, and launch a high-altitude solar-powered plane, in the hopes that one day a fleet of the aircraft would deliver internet access around the world.Zuckerberg arrived at the Yuma Proving Ground before dawn. “A lot of the team was really nervous about me coming,” Zuckerberg said in an interview with The Verge. A core group of roughly two dozen people work on the drone, named Aquila (uh-KEY-luh), in locations from Southern California to the United Kingdom. For months, they had been working in rotations in Yuma, a small desert city in southwestern Arizona known primarily for its brutal summer temperatures.On this day, Aquila would have its first functional test flight: the goal consisted of taking off safely, stabilizing in the air, and flying for at least 30 minutes before landing. “I just felt this is such an important milestone for the company, and for connecting the world, that I have to be there,” Zuckerberg says.

The internet provides information, opportunity and human connection, yet less than half the world has access. We’re proud to announce the successful first test flight of Aquila, the solar airplane we designed to bring internet access to people living in remote locations. This innovative plane has the wingspan of an airliner but weighs less than a small car and flies on roughly the power of three blow dryers

Half a decade ago, Jonathan Heiliger compared the world of Internet data centers to Fight Club.

It was the spring of 2011, and the giants of the Internet—including Google, Amazon, and Microsoft—were erecting a new kind of data center. Their online empires had grown so large that they could no longer rely on typical hardware from the likes of Dell, HP, and IBM. They needed hardware that was cheaper, more streamlined, and more malleable. So, behind the scenes, they designed this hardware from scratch and had it manufactured through little-known companies in Asia.

This shadow hardware market was rarely discussed in public. Companies like Google saw their latest data center hardware as a competitive advantage best kept secret from rivals. But then Facebook tore off the veil. It open sourced its latest server and data center designs, freely sharing them with the world under the aegis of a new organization called the Open Compute Project. “It’s time to stop treating data center design like Fight Club and demystify the way these things are built,” said Heiliger, then the vice president of technical operations at Facebook. 

Google was the first company to rethink data center design for the modern age.

With the Open Compute Project, Facebook aimed to create a whole community of companies that would freely share their data center designs, hoping to accelerate the evolution of Internet hardware and, thanks to the economies of scale, drive down the cost of this hardware. That, among other things, boosts the Facebook bottom line. It worked—in a very big way. Microsoft soon shared its designs too. Companies like HP and Quanta began selling this new breed of streamlined gear. And businesses as diverse as Rackspace and Goldman Sachs used this hardware to expand their own massive online operations. Even Apple—that bastion of secrecy—eventually joined the project.

Two big holdouts remained: Google and Amazon. But today, that number dropped to one. At the annual Open Compute Summit in San Jose, California, Google announced that it too has joined the project. And it’s already working with Facebook on a new piece of open source hardware.