A former Meta employee in London is under criminal investigation for allegedly downloading approximately 30,000 private Facebook images. The engineer, who worked at the social media company, is suspected of designing a program to access these pictures while avoiding internal security checks.
Key Takeaways
A former Meta employee in London is under investigation for allegedly downloading about 30,000 private Facebook images using a custom script to circumvent security measures. The breach was discovered over a year ago, and the suspect has been sacked and released on bail.
- Former Meta engineer suspected of accessing 30K private photos
- Breach discovered more than a year ago; employee terminated
- Suspect released on bail pending further investigation
- Meta upgraded security systems and notified affected users
- ICO aware of incident, emphasizing responsible data handling
According to court documents seen by the Press Association and reported by The Guardian, the Metropolitan Police's cybercrime unit is investigating the alleged invasion of privacy. Meta confirmed that the breach was discovered over a year ago, after which they immediately fired the suspected employee and referred the matter to law enforcement in the UK.
Meta has notified affected Facebook users and upgraded its security systems as part of their response. The suspect, who lives in London, is currently on police bail with conditions requiring him to report to Met officers in May and inform them of any plans for foreign travel. A spokesperson for Meta emphasized that protecting user data is the company's top priority.
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has expressed awareness of the incident, stressing the importance of responsible handling of personal information by social media platforms. This investigation comes amidst a series of legal and regulatory challenges faced by Meta, including recent fines for data breaches and a landmark court defeat in California over allegations of failing to protect users from harm caused by addictive platform design.
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