German quiz app leaked data of 120 mn Facebook users: Report

IANS  |  San Francisco 

In another massive leak, the private data of about 120 million users was compromised by a developer of quizzes called "NameTests", the media reported.

The company behind "NameTests", a German Social Sweethearts, created popular social quizzes like "Which Are You?" and distributed them on the

"Writing in a Medium post, the security who filed the report -- self-styled 'hacker' Inti De Ceukelaire explains, he went hunting for data abusers on Facebook's platform after the company announced a data abuse bounty on April 10 as it scrambled to present a responsible face to the world," reported late on Thursday.

The said he began his search by noting down what third party apps his friends were using.

"He already knew quizzes had a reputation for being data-suckers in a distracting wrapper. So he took his first ever quiz, from a brand called NameTests.com, and quickly realised the company was exposing Facebook users' data to 'any third-party that requested it'," the report added.

The compromised data reportedly included names, date of birth, posts, status, photos and friend lists and kept getting leaked even after users deleted the app.

Ceukelaire attempted to contact Facebook about this multiple times and was told that the company would look into it, according to The Verge.

The was hit by a major data scandal in March after Cambridge Analytica, a British consulting company, was accused of harvesting data of up to 87 million Facebook users without permission to help politicians, including US and the Brexit campaign.

Appearing before the US Congress, the company told the lawmakers that his own personal data was part of the users' data that was 'improperly shared' with the British political consultancy firm.

--IANS

ksc/mag/bg

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

First Published: Fri, June 29 2018. 19:30 IST