Among the 30 million accounts affected in the September 2018 Facebook data breach incident were 755,973 users in the Philippines, and now the Southeast Asian nation is demanding action from the social media company, according to a report from area news outlet ABS-CBN News.
The report states that Manila's National Privacy Commission yesterday ordered Facebook to file a Data Breach Notification Report, submit a more comprehensive incident report, and provide "identity" insurance and credit monitoring to affected citizens.
Moreover, the NPC reportedly disagrees with an Oct. 13 Facebook letter claiming that there is "no material risk" of the breach causing additional harm to victims. The news outlet reports that roughly half Philippine-based users may have had basic profile information exposed, while another half had even more details exposed, including histories, location histories, search queries, friends lists and in lesson common cases, friends lists and Messenger conversations.
Facebook has already stated that is does not intend to provide identity protection services in the wake of the breach.
But without proper protections, some users potentially could find themselves at risk. "Facebook is the new stolen credit card for today's generation in terms of the data and value it provides criminals," said Tom Kelly, president and CEO of ID Experts, in emailed comments. "A criminal can gather enough person information from your Facebook to open a credit card, loan or new bank account in your name… Unfortunately, many Americans do not realize the effect the recent Facebook breach has had on their risk for identity theft or know how to protect themselves online."
