In yet another user data breach, Facebook has revealed that a bug may have exposed the photos of up to 6.8 million users during a 12-day period in September. Third-party apps may have had access to photos which users had not given access permission to. “When someone gives permission for an app to access their photos on Facebook, we usually only grant the app access to photos people share on their timeline,” explained Facebook in a blog post. In all, 6.8 million users and 1500 apps developed by 876 developers may have been affected by the bug. Only those apps with access to the photos API and those whom users gave authorized access to were affected. The bug caused photos shared on Stories and Marketplace to be shared with developers. Even photographs which were uploaded to Facebook, but were not posted, may have been included in the breach. When a user uploads a photo, but does not complete posting it, Facebook stores a copy of that photo for three days “so the person has it when they come back to the app to complete their post.” Facebook has not clarified whether Stories’ expired photos or current ones were exposed. It is also unclear if photos from Messenger Stories were affected by the bug. The company has begun notifying affected users and urged them to check which apps they have shared their Facebook photos with. Affected users can also check the help center to see if they have used any apps…
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