Irish privacy watchdog starts investigation into Facebook data breach – Computer – News

Ireland’s Data Protection Commission launched an investigation this week into Facebook’s data breach, which came to light earlier this month. The regulator is investigating, among other things, whether the tech giant has violated the European privacy law.

The DPC announced the research on Wednesdays. The regulator starts the investigation after reports about a leaked data set from 2019, which contains data from approximately 533 million Facebook users. The dataset is provided for free on hacker forums. Data includes, for example, phone numbers, dates of birth, email addresses, or location information, depending on the account. The Irish privacy watchdog writes that the investigation was started under Section 110 of the 2018 Data Protection Act.

“The DPC, after reviewing the information Facebook has provided on this matter so far, believes that one or more provisions of the GDPR and / or the Data Protection Act 2018 may have been violated and / or are being violated in relation to to the personal data of Facebook users, “the regulator wrote in a statement. “The DPC therefore considers it appropriate to determine whether Facebook has fulfilled its obligations as the controller of the personal data of its users.”

Didier Reynders, a Belgian European Commissioner for Justice, announced earlier this week that he was talking about the Facebook data breach with Helen Dixon of the DPC. In addition, he called on Facebook to actively cooperate to clarify the problems. Facebook leaves in a statement TechCrunch know that the company is “fully cooperating” with the DPC and the investigation, which “relates to Facebook features that make it easier for people to find and connect with friends.” “We look forward to explaining these features and the protections we’ve built in,” the company said.

The data breach came to light earlier this month. The dataset contains data from people from 106 different countries, including 5.3 million Dutch Facebook users. The platform announced that it concerned data from 2019. The data would have been looted by a vulnerability that would have been resolved in August 2019. Facebook users can go through HaveIBeenPwned check if their email addresses or phone numbers have been leaked.

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