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Some Private Posts On Facebook May Have Been Exposed

By June 22, 2018June 3rd, 2022Cybersecurity

Facebook is in hot water again.  Recently, the company admitted that while testing a new feature on the site, they inadvertently made public the posts of more than fourteen million users.  The incident occurred between May 18th and May 22nd and occurred when Facebook was testing a new “Featured Posts” enhancement.

The goal was that users could selectively make posts visible to everyone.  Unfortunately, the error created a situation where any posts users in the test group made were automatically shared to everyone.  The company found and corrected the mistake on May 27th, but during the intervening span of days, any posts those users made were set to global visibility.  Facebook is currently in the process of contacting the impacted users and asking them to review any posts they made during the impact period.

Chief Privacy Officer Erin Egan had this to say: “To be clear, this bug did not impact anything people had posted before – and they could still choose their audience just as they always have.  We’d like to apologize for this mistake.”

Unfortunately, this is not the first time in the recent past that Facebook has gotten into hot water over the mishandling of user data.  Earlier this year, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg had to testify before Congress when it came to light that the company acknowledged they had improperly shared private information pertaining to tens of millions of its users with Cambridge Analytica, which used the information in an attempt to influence the most recent presidential election.

Even if you’re not a member of the test group, if you use Facebook and made any posts between May 18th and May 27th when the company fixed the bug, it pays to review your posts just to make sure that their visibility has been properly set.

Jason Manteiga

Jason J. Manteiga, Vice President of Olmec Systems, has been part of the company for over the past 20 years. He believes that having a great work environment and supportive team, is the ultimate key to success. Since being in the IT realm for over 25 years, Jason, along with Olmec Systems, has been on the Inc. 5000 “List of America’s Fastest Growing Private Companies” and Channel Futures MSP 501 “Top Managed Service Providers in North America,” along with other awards and nominations. Jason earned his Bachelor Degree in Information Systems from the New Jersey Institute of Technology. He also holds certifications in Microsoft MCSE, VMWare VCP, and Cisco CCNA. In his spare time, Jason is a contributor for The Center for Social & Legal Research (Privacy Exchange) and a member of the Morris County Chamber of Commerce. His hobbies include cycling and kayaking. He currently lives in New Jersey with his wife, two daughters and son.