Facebook and other social networks face sharp increase in user data leaks

In 2016, the number of data leaks from leading international tech companies increased by more than 30 percent, reported Moscow-based cybersecurity provider InfoWatch.

Sergey Khayruk, an analyst at InfoWatch, said data is a key asset for major tech companies, so such leaks pose a grave threat to their business.

“In 2016, the data of millions of users of popular resources such as Facebook, Foursquare, GitHub, iCloud, LinkedIn, MySpace, Snapchat, Telegram, Tumblr and Twitter was leaked," Khayruk said. "Hackers successfully attacked the largest mail services - Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo, Mail.ru, and they also abducted user data of telecommunications companies, including Deutsche Telekom, Three UK, Verizon and other operators.”

There is good news, though. Apparently, the hackers are only taking personal data: the amount of leaks related to payment information, commercial secrets and know-how declined in 2016, reported InfoWatch.

Khayruk said that with bigger volumes of generated, processed and stored information, the risks of external attacks also increase. At the same time, employees at tech companies are also violating the rules and regulations, themselves sometimes a source of the data leaks.

"IT companies need not only effective protection against hackers, but also modern multifunctional systems to prevent information leaks from within the company," expert said.

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