Facebook shares dropped by more than 7% on October 26th, following the company’s announcement that it had been breached.
Facebook has suffered a major data breach that has affected 50 million users. The breach was discovered on Tuesday and was caused by a vulnerability in Facebook’s code that allowed hackers to take over user accounts. Facebook has since fixed the issue and is working with law enforcement to find out who is responsible for the attack. This isn’t the first time Facebook has been hacked, but it may be one of the most damaging incidents yet. Here’s why investors are so concerned about this breach.
What happened?
The hack occurred on Tuesday, October 25th when a security vulnerability in Facebook’s code allowed hackers to take over user accounts. The attackers were able to access users’ names, email addresses or phone numbers and potentially even their private messages and posts.
How many people were affected?
The company announced on Friday that 50 million users had been affected by the hack, which is more than twice as many as originally thought.
“This is an issue of trust,” said David Kirkpatrick, author of “The Facebook Effect.” “It’s not just people’s information they’re taking; it’s their identity.”
