[ THREAT ARCHIVE :: 2021 ]
EXPOSURE SCALE: 533,000,000+ RECORDS
Facebook 2021 Scrape (533M) — What Was Leaked & How to Check If You're In It
In April 2021, a dataset containing the personal details and phone numbers of 533 million Facebook users across 106 countries was made freely downloadable on an underground hacking forum.
INCIDENT YEAR: 2021
ATTACK VECTOR: Contact Importer Vulnerability Abuse (Pre-2019 Patch)
SEVERITY RATING: CRITICAL
> COMPROMISED DATA ATTRIBUTES IN THIS BREACH:
[✓] Mobile Phone Numbers
[✓] Facebook User IDs
[✓] Full Names
[✓] Birthdates
[✓] Locations
[✓] Relationship Statuses
[✓] Email Addresses (Partial)
> TECHNICAL POST-MORTEM & VECTOR ANALYSIS
- The breach originated from an abuse of Facebook’s contact synchronizer tool in 2019, allowing adversaries to link billions of phone numbers to Facebook identities.
- This database is the single most widely used source for automated SMS phishing (smishing) and cellular SIM-swapping attacks worldwide.
- Notable high-profile executives and government officials had their private cell numbers exposed in the raw dump.
> VERIFY IF YOUR CREDENTIALS APPEARED IN THIS DUMP
Query the DARKLEDGER multi-source engine to check if your email, username, or phone number was indexed in the Facebook 2021 Scrape (533M) dataset.
> STEP-BY-STEP REMEDIATION PLAYBOOK
- Run a phone number check in international format (+1, +44, etc.) on the DARKLEDGER mobile scanner.
- Contact your mobile telecom provider immediately to enforce a verbal Port-Out Passcode / PIN lock.
- Disconnect SMS from your primary email and cryptocurrency recovery workflows.
> FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS BREACH
Q: Can I change my Facebook ID if it was leaked?
No, your Facebook numeric ID is static, but you should restrict profile searchability and decouple your phone number from SMS 2FA.