Creates comprehensive profiles from publicly available information.
The security company UpGuard reveals a new data leak that involves users on a number of services, including Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.
Creates comprehensive profiles from publicly available information.
The security company UpGuard reveals a new data leak that involves users on a number of services, including Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.
Leave open to everyone
Behind this is the company LocalBlox which tracks and collects public information about users and companies from services like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. The company then saves profiles based on the information collected. This can again be used for advertising purposes.
UpGuard found earlier that one of the databases was open online via a hidden, but unlocked Amazon S3 storage device. That way, everyone could download the information. The database contained information about 48 million user accounts obtained from public profiles and joined together.
Opposite GeekWire, LocalBlox boss Ashfaq Rahman says that the company has failed to reproduce the findings of UpGuard, but that they closed access to the client as soon as they received information about it. He emphasized that information to the company has never been or will be used for political purposes.
Extensive profiles
ZDNet has seen the information UpGuard has retrieved and it includes name, physical address, job information and history. All information obtained from the three above-mentioned web communities.
Additionally, search terms appear as LocalBlox uses to browse the email addresses collected through Facebook's search engine. This to extract profile pictures, current job title, and family information. Facebook closed this solution in the wake of the recent Cambridge Analytica disclosure.