Personal data of 257,000, Private messages of 81,000 Facebook users leaked online: BBC

* The personal data of 257,000 Facebook users, including the private messages of 81,000 users, has been freely available online since early September, shared by what may be Russian hackers, a BBC Russian Service investigation said on Friday.

* The data was posted on an online forum by hackers claiming to have access to the personal data of 120 million accounts, offering to sell them at 10 cents per profile, the BBC writes.

* The BBC says it contacted 5 users (from Moscow, Belgorod and Perm) affected by the breach, who all confirmed that the texts available online were indeed their private Facebook messages.

* Analysis by Digital Shadows, a British cybersecurity firm, found 12,000 of the 257,000 users said they were based in Russia; 47,000 said they were from Ukraine.

* The platform where the data was posted appears, or has been made to appear, to have Russian links, the BBC investigation found. It is attached to a St. Petersburg based IP address, the BBC said. -- Source link: https://bbc.in/2Qcje4r -- Note: Reuters has not verified this story and does not vouch for its accuracy. 

(With inputs from agencies.)