TOKYO, Oct 22, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – The Japanese government on Monday
ordered Facebook to improve protection of users’ personal information
following data breaches affecting tens of millions of people worldwide.
Facebook said early this month that hackers accessed the personal data of
29 million users in a breach at the world’s leading social network first
disclosed late September.
The company had originally said up to 50 million accounts were affected
in a cyberattack that exploited a trio of software flaws to steal “access
tokens” that enable people to automatically log back onto the platform.
Japan’s Personal Information Protection Commission on Monday demanded the
social media giant investigate why the personal data was hacked and draw up
preventive measures.
Facebook told Japanese authorities the 29 million people hacked in the
latest attack may include Japanese users, top government spokesman Yoshihide
Suga has said.
Facebook also acknowledged earlier this year that tens of millions of
users had their personal data hijacked by Cambridge Analytica, a British
political firm which worked for Donald Trump in 2016.
Up to 100,000 Facebook users may have been affected in Japan in that
scandal, the commission said.
“It is the first time that the commission, which investigated the data
leak with British authorities, has issued warnings to Facebook,” an official
told AFP.
The commission also ordered Facebook to communicate better with users and
respond to them promptly, for example when they request their accounts be
deleted.
Facebook pledged to “promptly inform users if the platform was
inappropriately used and cooperate with the commission and other countries’
regulators” on its website.