Data breach exposes sensitive data of 311,127 Australians

According to the latest reports released by Facebook into the Cambridge Analytica data mining scandal, the data of up to 311,127 (1 in 34) Australian Facebook users was "improperly shared".

In total, the data breach hit 87 million people worldwide, with the vast majority of accounts (81.6 per cent) from the United States.

As the companies first real action in response to the leak, Facebook users will receive a notice this Monday asking them to review what apps they use, and the information shared with those apps.

The users directly affected by the data breach will be notified at the same time as the review notice is released.

Facebook has also indicated that it will now restrict the user data it allows companies to access as well as restricting the access to information that apps can get about users' events as well as members lists and content about groups. Furthermore, Facebook is removing the option for users to find contacts by searching a phone number or email address to prevent companies from collecting profile information about customers.

12 comments

How different is it to the data Google collect on a person ???

How different is this to Centrelink data mining facebook to catch out pensioners going on holidays?

How different is this YLC site that had an article that Google security stopped our personal responses to as it had no less than 230 cookies attached to it!

Everyone is tracking us even Pokemon. Does anyone really think its just a matter of where you have been and when?

Good grief - if you want privacy you have to go off the grid but now the NBN is here you can't even have a private landline phone call.

Sorry, but just remind me again how Centrelink mines data on Facebook.

I missed that memo.

Centrelink does not have enough staff to answer phones, and tens of millions of calls go unanswered every year.

Just exactly where does this crap about Centrelink come from?  Do they really have such a massive amount of staff sitting there in offices all over Oz reading facebook from morning till night?  

For the record, I HAVE NO DOUBT DATA MINING GOES ON.  This is not it.

Get real, and stop living in fantasyland.

And for the record.

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED UMPTEEN TIMES ABOUT NEVER, REPEAT NEVER BROADCASTING THE FACT YOU ARE ON HOLIDAYS ON FACEBOOK, FOR SECURITY REASONS.

So stop doing it - espcially as you have more to hide from Centrelink rather than opportunistic burglars.

johninmelb from the news. There are 150K google entries.

https://www.vice.com/en_au/article/dp9d5x/centrelink-has-been-lurking-on-your-facebook-australia

https://www.gizmodo.com.au/2016/02/the-australian-government-is-monitoring-welfare-recipients-social-media-accounts/

https://thenewdaily.com.au/life/tech/2016/02/09/governments-crackdown-cheats-affect/

So how do you find out if you are one of the "1 in 34" Australian Facebook users affected? Sorry Drew...,this article doesn't tell us anything that hasn't already been on the news

You haven't because the data was used to sway the United States elections.

For example if you "liked" politically left or right wing comments they would target political promises that you thought were an issue.

If you had photos of young children they would make child care promises. If someone is photographed with a broken leg you might get comments about obamacare etc.

It already happens with advertising and ecommerce after we have just bought something. Its called microcasting instead of broadcasting. So they are targeting the individual rather than the masses.  Its effective marketing.

Now its our responsibilty to inform our children and the unintiated about misleading and false advertising and propaganda. Communication is our friend - we just need to wise up. (Spoken by someone who was just "tricked" by an online purchase recently - what you see is not necessarily what you get!)

Every time you use  your card at the supermarket, you are being tracked. Use cash that you've keeping in that mattress instead, LOL

I stopped using mine when I looked up my IGA card on the net to find they were monitoring how much sugar and fat I was purchasing and comparing it week by week. Then it produced a graph of exactly what days I had shopped.

While I knew they were using my information somehow this just seemed rude. I wasn't a congolomerative statistical tally - they were assessing me as an individual.

The worst card at the moment is Paypal.be wary. I don't carry around a lot of cash and I use technology, have to, or life would stand still.

Just don't put up pictures and give away too much info about yourself. Even on this site. They all think I'm six people rolled into one. I've succeeded!!

Micha since they introduced the contactless paywave card cash in your pocket is safer. A thief can steal $1000 a day from your card up to $3000 a week.

I tried to stop the paywave feature on my card and the bank wouldn't let me. I understand some banks will so I am now about to change banks.

It is unbelievable that the banks are so unconcerned about our security to get the payback from visa. - and people worry about Facebook?

Honestly, some of you fella's here live on the set of a movie that only plays to your own imagination. 

What horrific lives of fear you all live if you undertake such drastic measures to ensure you can sleep at night! Maybe you dont sleep at night and every morning another conspiracy theory pops into your head.

Tell me true, how much money have you actually lost to this evil and fraudulent new technology? Or maybe it's your family, or friends, or neighbours who have lost the 1000's of $$?? 

I haven't ever heard of one instance and if I did the banks will instantly refund the missing dollars. So what is really the problem?

Strikey - https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/tapandgo-credit-card-fraud-chewing-up-police-resources-20140528-393ny.html

Rosret, a 4 year old, poor bugger me Press Release from Vic Police to increase budget funding. Come on mate you are dredging the bottom of the barrel. Credit cards are old technology. They will be obsolete sooner than you know it.

All my credit cards are purely digital and reside on my phone. They need my finger print to activate and my phone does the tap and go.

If kids can break in and find cards that easy then the card holders deserve the inconvenience................but still no credit card holder is out of pocket! 

Rosret, and even the police resort to lies in their press release......‘‘It’s easy to steal a credit card from a mail box, immediately go to a retail outlet, and make multiple low-value transactions.’’

Pure lies, a new credit card needs to be activated by phoning your bank and using your  ID and pin number first before it can be used......... yep 10 year old kids know how to do this right??

Yep with the help of their crooked dads.

who is running the railway strike and who is helping the CFMEU to run the next wharfiestrike

The Russian economy is no bigger than the Australian one .,yet all over they are submining Western governments ,

Everybody is submining everyone else ,even little kids cn join in anarchy now online

Which little kids???

Every time you buy something with a debit or credit card, your bank learns a little bit more about you. It already knows your personal details – age, address, phone number, employment status, marital status, income, etc.

And increasingly, thanks to the decline of cash and rise of card payments, it also knows all about your spending habits. It knows whether you shop in Coles, Woolworths or Aldi, how often you eat out, how much you spend on petrol, whether you drive or get public transport to work, how often you go on holiday, and so on.

The rise of contactless has given the banks access to more data than ever before.

 

I am really annoyed about the contactless card. It would be nice if we were given a choice.

I don't want day to day access on all my accounts and it is such a security risk to have these cards either at home or in my wallet. Its no different to having money stuffed in a mattress.

Actually its worse because they can use credit and track your every purchase.

well,  they can have my facebook account,  i dont care,    i hardly use it,      it is there to keep in touch with people i rarely see,   or if i cant reach someone by phone , for some reason,  i can get them through that,     it came in handy when the floods were in queensland,    my eldest grand daughter has gone there to live,  with hubby and 2 children,     it was one way of finding out if they were ok,  as no phone was available,   

 

Hahaha here we go again.... the media whipping your delusional minds into a frenzy. Think about it! Seriously, is billions of your ones and zeros stored on massive hard drives really a threat to your freedoms. What possibly could anyone do with the knowlege of what you ate, where you pooped or what seedy place you hung out in? 

Do you really think someone armed with all that useless information is gonna come around to your house at midnight and ram a hard drive down your throat.

The gathering of statistical information on a grand scale is not akin to murder, rape, robbery, kidnapping or any of the obscene crimes that could be committed against you............ but reading the sensational headlines it seems it might as well be!

So what if a company sends you an advertisement to buy smashed avocado pizza! So what if a politician sends you a vote for me card........... doesnt anyone have a brain to make your own decisions about life?

Welcome to the mushroom farm!

 

 

Quote: . doesnt anyone have a brain to make your own decisions about life?

Nope, everyone is waiting for strikey the saviour to come and help them see da light. 

Image result for seeing the light image

I'm going to gather some mushrooms from the "mushroom farm" LOL

We used to reckon our TV was listening to us because we would have a short conversation in front of it and the next day we we would get ads relating to what we were talking about.

BUT ... now I think it's the goldfish!!  We were talking about insurance in front of the fish pond the other night and then got ads about that.

Or maybe it's the birds ... spies, spies I tell you ... they're everywhere.

:) Think it's the geckos at my place. They hide everywhere, outside and inside.

It’s a little naïve to think that unethical mining of data will not affect any one of us. So the onus is on us personally and we as individuals need to educate ourselves of the risks in leaving a long trail of data behind us. It’s a big ask because we are so used to doing this unwittingly. Exercising a little caution is not a bad thing. But having said that, I still think society can benefit from data mining and sharing of information. Matching buyers with sellers, cheap airline tickets online, are all made possible by data mining. Lots of the cheap deals people enjoy are possible because of data mining.

The medical profession is one of the most important areas where data mining is a great boon. Sharing of information and quick and easy access to patients records, but care should be taken these do not fall into the wrong hands.

The medical profession is one of the most important areas where data mining is a great boon. Sharing of information and quick and easy access to patients records, but care should be taken these do not fall into the wrong hands.

Agree Ray, particularly about wrong hands ... the insurance industry would love that type of data.

Uploaded my details a couple of years ago to "My Health" ...

My Health Record is a secure online summary of your health information. You can control what goes into it, and who is allowed to access it. You can choose to share your health information with your doctors, hospitals and other healthcare providers.

Totally useless at that time, my medicos couldn’t access it on their surgery systems (incompatiblity), neither could the hospitals I was admitted to, for similar reasons. Never again for me until things improve, and probably not then either, due to personal concerns re data security concerns after recent 'big data' scares.

Have removed the lot, they can reference my personal paper versions from now on, if they are at all interested that is.

Must agree Insurance companies would love it.

@ RnR

Wise move. Medical records contain data that is sensitive and subject to strict legal requirements and there are a lot of data miners out there. Patients medical records are also extremely vulnerable to theft, because the information they contain has street value. This info could be used for identity theft, to falsify drug prescriptions, claim false health benefit payments, and even enable stalking.

 

yup, nearly every Doctors Clinic/Surgery in the country has racks and file storage areas stuffed full of manila folders clearly visible behind the clinic counter......and marked A-Z for ease of access. There is no legal requirement for clinics to secure your sensitive records in a strong room.

If its written on paper its deemed safe, if its on a computer its at risk. 

Funny world we live in on what is regarded safe or nether!

Strikey is well ahead of most of us with his cards on his smart phone etc.

 

Seems to me this is the way of the future so get over it. World going cashless by 2020 and most named Smart Phones today has a pay ap already, so dont need several credit cards like now. 

 

I have been checking prices for smart phones ad Kogans have the cheapest a $239 with all  the bells and whistles on Apple and other 4 figure costs. 

Has to be an inprovement on indivdual  cards which can be stolen or lost after activation etc

Just have to make sure your phone is secure and not let it out of your sight.

Take it to bed under the pilllow etc.

Wont miss a call either  and wont have to get out of bed on cold winters night. 

bonus - as they say always a bright light somewhere in the gloom of 21st century living.

Where greed is King.

Strikey is well ahead of most of us with his cards on his smart phone etc.

 

Seems to me this is the way of the future so get over it. World going cashless by 2020 and most named Smart Phones today has a pay ap already, so dont need several credit cards like now. 

 

I have been checking prices for smart phones ad Kogans have the cheapest a $239 with all  the bells and whistles on Apple and other 4 figure costs. 

Has to be an inprovement on indivdual  cards which can be stolen or lost after activation etc

Just have to make sure your phone is secure and not let it out of your sight.

Take it to bed under the pilllow etc.

Wont miss a call either  and wont have to get out of bed on cold winters night. 

bonus - as they say always a bright light somewhere in the gloom of 21st century living.

Where greed is King.

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