Here's how to check if you were affected in the Facebook hack - and how to delete your Facebook account

Advertisement
Here's how to check if you were affected in the Facebook hack - and how to delete your Facebook account

Advertisement

Facebook says that 30 million accounts were compromised in a major hack - down from the 50 million accounts the social network had first estimated, but still not great news.

Although Facebook took steps in light of the attack to protect users, the company has revealed that hackers had access to millions of people's personal information.

Complimentary Tech Event
Transform talent with learning that works
Capability development is critical for businesses who want to push the envelope of innovation.Discover how business leaders are strategizing around building talent capabilities and empowering employee transformation.Know More

For 14 million people, hackers could access an abundance of user data: name, email, phone number, hometown, current city, workplace, birthday, devices used to log into Facebook, the last 10 places they checked into or were tagged in, and their 15 most recent searches.

With so much sensitive data compromised, you may want to see if yours was taken - and take action to prevent it from ever happening again.

Advertisement

Here's how to check if whether your information was compromised, and how to delete your account:

{{}}

Visit your Facebook Help Center to scroll down to where it says, "Is my Facebook account impacted by this security issue?"

Visit your Facebook Help Center to scroll down to where it says, "Is my Facebook account impacted by this security issue?"

The most immediate way to check if your account was affected is to visit your Facebook Help Center. Underneath all the latest updates on the hack will be a section titled, "Is my Facebook account impacted by this security issue?"

The message here will differ depending on how you were affected. The message will list off which of your information was accessed.

If you were not affected, the message that appears will read: "Our investigation is still ongoing, but based on what we've learned so far, the attackers did not gain access to information associated with your Facebook account."

Facebook plans to send customized messages to the 30 million affected accounts in "coming days" with steps on how to protect themselves.

Facebook plans to send customized messages to the 30 million affected accounts in "coming days" with steps on how to protect themselves.

Users who were affected will get a message in the coming days, Facebook says. The message will include information on what people can do to best protect themselves from suspicious emails, text messages, and calls.

Advertisement

Delete your account to remove all your info — but it won't actually be gone until after a 30-day "grace period."

Delete your account to remove all your info — but it won't actually be gone until after a 30-day "grace period."

By deleting your account, you will actually remove your personal information from Facebook's servers. This will delete everything you've ever put on Facebook — profile information, photos, status updates, timeline posts — but won't include messages sent via Facebook Messenger.

However, it will take a whole 30 days for your account to actually be deleted after you've requested it be removed.. This "grace period" used to be 14 days, but it was reported last week that Facebook raised it to a month. This gives users an opportunity to re-activate their account if they get cold feet before making it permanent.

If you don't want to lose everything you've put on Facebook, there is an option to download a copy of all your information. You have to request this archive before deleting your account, and you'll have it sent to you via email. If you delete your account before you request this archive, you're out of luck, so be careful.

Next StoryThis mysterious website charges you 99 cents to see who else has paid 99 cents