A security researcher claims to have spotted a flaw in Facebook's account recovery feature that can let anyone easily break into your account -- that too, without you ever noticing, media reported on Friday.
According to a report in the Independent, "there is no need of password to gain access and scammers can also lock you out of your own account".
The discovery was made by 18-year-old James Martindale when he inserted a new SIM card into his phone.
Mr Martindale quickly received a message from Facebook informing him that "he had not logged into his account for a while, despite not having tied the new number to his account", the report said.
He then searched for the number on Facebook which brought up a single account.
Mr Martindale then attempted to log into the account by using the number as the username and typing in a random password but failed because the password he entered was wrong.
He clicked on 'Forgot Password' option to recover his account but failed again.
James Martindale searched for the account with the new number and found a list of account recovery options -- comprising an email address and six phone numbers -- for regaining access to the account.
"One of these options was for Facebook to text a password reset code to the very number Martindale had just tried to log in with," the report said.
After selecting the option, he received the code and successfully logged into the 'person's' account.
"Facebook then gave him the option to change the password, which would have locked the real user out of their account, or to skip that stage, which means he never would have known his account had been hacked," the report pointed out.
Martindale performed the same trick with another new number and it resulted the same.
According to a report in the Independent, "there is no need of password to gain access and scammers can also lock you out of your own account".
The discovery was made by 18-year-old James Martindale when he inserted a new SIM card into his phone.
He then searched for the number on Facebook which brought up a single account.
Advertisement
He clicked on 'Forgot Password' option to recover his account but failed again.
Advertisement
"One of these options was for Facebook to text a password reset code to the very number Martindale had just tried to log in with," the report said.
Advertisement
"Facebook then gave him the option to change the password, which would have locked the real user out of their account, or to skip that stage, which means he never would have known his account had been hacked," the report pointed out.
Advertisement
COMMENTS
Advertisement
Hackers, Likely From Pak, Tried Hacking My Facebook Account: Himanta Sarma Prabhas Reveals His Facebook Account Was "Compromised," Restored Now Karthi's Facebook Account Hacked: "Trying To Restore," Tweets Ponniyin Selvan Star From 8 Days To 8 Months: NASA Astronauts To Return From Space Next Year Why NASA Picked Elon Musk's SpaceX To Bring Back Astronauts From Space "Will Benefit 23 Lakh Employees": Centre Launches Unified Pension Scheme Trump Struggles To Keep Media Spotlight In Battle With Kamala Harris Suspected German Festival Stabber Who Killed 3 Arrested Telegram Chief Pavel Durov Arrested At French Airport: Report Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world.