How to check if Facebook's bug leaked your un-posted photos
Just recently, Facebook exposed photos of some 70 lakh users in yet another instance of data mishandling. The issue stemmed from a vulnerability in Facebook's API, which provided third-party app developers unauthorized access to photos uploaded on the platform. The bug has now been fixed, but you might want to know if your photos have been compromised. So, here's the way.
First up, what kind of photos were leaked?
In a recent blog post, Facebook confirmed that the bug exposed photos that app developers wouldn't normally have access to. Put simply, along with photos shared on Facebook timeline, the developers were also granted access to photos that were shared on Stories or Marketplace and shots that were uploaded on the platform but not shared publicly.
Up to 1,500 apps affected, as per Facebook
As per Facebook, up to 1,500 apps developed by 876 developers are estimated to have been affected by the photo API bug. This means any user who may have "used Facebook Login and granted permission" to any of these apps might have exposed their photos.
How you can check if your photos were exposed
Facebook is notifying users who may have been impacted by the latest photo-leak. However, in case you want to check for yourself, head over to the help page set up by Facebook by clicking here: https://bit.ly/2EnNNRL. The page will show if your Facebook account was affected by the bug and whether any of your apps had access to the photos in question.
What to do if affected?
In case you had bug-affected apps that got access to your un-posted or Stories' photos, Facebook will provide a certain set of instructions to follow on the same page. Follow those steps and tweak your settings for apps and websites to make sure you only share limited information with third-party apps and websites. Or you can just delete Facebook altogether if you want.
