Stolen Facebook names and passwords mostly old data
The cyber bandits who nicked 45,000 Facebook user names and passwords with a computer worm Thursday got less than they bargained for.
A "majority" of the credentials stolen by the thieves were "out of date," according to a statement Facebook released to the media Friday. When pressed on the point by ZDNet blogger Emile Protalinski, a Facebook spokesperson acknowledged that "more than half" of the purloined data contained invalid logins or old or expired passwords.
"Last week we received from external security researchers a set of user credentials that had been harvested by a piece of malware," Facebook explains in its statement. "Our security experts have reviewed the data, and while the majority of the information was out-of-date, we have initiated remedial steps for all affected users to ensure the security of their accounts." Facebook says it is bolstering its antivirus protection and reminds users to "protect themselves by never clicking on strange links and reporting any suspicious activity they encounter on Facebook."
