Cybersecurity Expert Says Tokens Caused Facebook Breach

Did you have to re-login to Facebook this week? You’re not alone. A new data breach impacted some fifty million people in Facebook that could have given hackers access to user profiles. Facebook’s solution was to have those who were affected by the hack as well as several million additional users log back into their accounts.

“This isn’t rocket science or brain surgery; it’s cybersecurity. These days, that’s just as tough,” says Dr. Ray Klump, professor and director of the Master of Information Security program at Lewis University.

This data breach brings the conflict between convenience and security to the forefront. Users crave convenience. In so many instances, however, those conveniences come at the price of introducing new holes for hackers to explore and exploit. Facebook created user tokens to enable users to stay logged in, which is particularly important on mobile devices where the act of constantly thumb-typing usernames and passwords would surely turn users away. Those user tokens were accidentally exposed.

“Convenience is security’s kryptonite,” Klump concluded.

Visit http://www.lewisu.edu/experts/wordpress/index.php/faculty-experts/dr-ray-klump/ for more information about Dr. Ray Klump.

Visit https://www.lewisu.edu/academics/msinfosec/ for more information about the Master of Information Security program at Lewis University.