Release date: 10/9/2018
(RALEIGH) Attorney General Josh Stein wrote Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to demand answers about the company’s security and safety. Last week, Facebook announced that 50 million of its accounts were hacked. Attorney General Josh Stein is already investigating Facebook after another breach earlier this year.
“Incident after incident has North Carolinians very concerned about their data privacy,” said Attorney General Josh Stein. “Facebook’s recent breach underscores the legitimacy of this concern. Today, I am demanding answers about Facebook’s safeguards to protect people. When people sign up for a Facebook account, they’re not trading away their privacy.”
In his letter, Attorney General Stein expressed concern about the level of information currently available about this incident, stating, “Certain pertinent facts are still unclear, including the types of information compromised, whether impacted residents have been provided direct notice that their accounts could be viewed by hackers, and what remedial steps Facebook has taken in response to this incident.”
- The number of North Carolinians impacted by this breach,
- Categories of information included in the Facebook profiles that were visible to the hackers,
- How and when Facebook learned of this incident, vulnerabilities that the hackers exploited, and Facebook’s efforts to investigate the incident,
- Safeguards in place to prevent unauthorized access to Facebook,
- Whether or not Facebook has notified North Carolinians directly,
- Steps taken to protect North Carolinians who may have been affected,
- What, if any, law enforcement agencies are investigating this matter,
- Whether Facebook has coordinated with other applications to restrict the use of Facebook login information that allows third party applications,
- Any plans, policies, or procedures that Facebook has in place or is developing to prevent incidents such as this, and
- Any privacy assessments and reports Facebook has prepared.
A copy of the letter can be found here.