On Friday, Facebook announced that it had suffered another data breach that exposed 50 million accounts. Attackers were able to grab account credentials through the social networking platform's "View As" feature.
The Wall Street Journal has reported that Ireland's Data Protection Commission, the top body that reviews Facebook for the European Union, has requested more information about the hack. The commission requested information about the nature and scope of the breach in order to determine whether the data breach contravenes GDPR laws.
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a set of strict laws that came into effect in May to ensure that European residents are not affected by mismanagement of their data by various companies.
A business that fails to protect its users' data can face a maximum fine of 20 million euros ($23 million) or 4% of its total annual revenue from the previous year, whichever is greater.
Additionally, as Facebook failed to notify regulators of the attack within 3 days of the breach, it could also face a potential fine of 2% of its total revenue.
Personal information of 50 million accounts has been compromised according to Facebook, which has taken the necessary measures to deal with any further attack through the same mechanism. Surprisingly, Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg, the COO of Facebook, were also affected by the attack.
It only remains to be seen whether the fine will ultimately be imposed on Facebook.
