Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg's phone number was found in the leaked data of 533 million Facebook users. In what may be seen as the biggest data leaks ever, Zuckerberg's other details such as his name, birth date, location, marriage details, and Facebook user ID were also revealed in the compromised data, according to a report.
It was revealed in the leak that Zuckerberg uses the Signal app. Revealing more about it, a security researcher disclosed it by posting his leaked phone number which corroborated that the Facebook CEO uses the Signal app.
"In another turn of events, Mark Zuckerberg also respects his own privacy, by using a chat app that has end-to-end encryption and isn't owned by @facebook. This is the number associated with his account from the recent Facebook leak," security expert Dave Walker posted on Twitter along with a screenshot of Zuckerberg's leaked phone number which mentioned, "Mark Zuckerberg is on Signal."
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"Regarding the Facebook leak of the 533M people, the irony is that Mark Zuckerberg is regrettably included in the leak as well," Walker wrote in another tweet.
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The revelation comes at a time when several users unhappy with Facebook-owned WhatsApp's new privacy policy are shifting to ostensibly safer alternatives such as Signal.
Also Read: Data of 553 million Facebook users from 106 countries, including India, leaked
WhatsApp's controversial new terms of service will come into effect from May 2021. The updated privacy policy alters how Facebook can access users' chats with business accounts.
Meanwhile, the social media giant's other co-founders Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes were also among those affected by the data leak.
As per another security expert, Alon Gal, the data was leaked last year due to a vulnerability that exposed the phone number linked to every Facebook account.
Also Read: Personal details of 61 lakh Indian Facebook users leaked online
However, Facebook stated that the vulnerability was detected in 2019 that let phone numbers of millions of users be abraded from the platform's servers. Facebook clarified that the vulnerability was mended in August 2019, but according to Gal, despite the flaw being patched, it could provide relevant information to cyber criminals.
Of the 533 million impacted Facebook users, 32 million belonged to the US, 11 million to the UK, and six million to India. As per a Bloomberg report, the database of stolen phone numbers was posted on a hackers' forum and could be simply transferred to anyone with basic computing skills.