Irish Data Protection Commission fines Meta \u20ac91 million for passwords stored in plaintext | CyberScoop<\/title> <meta name=\"description\" content=\"The issue, discovered and reported by Meta in 2019, affected hundreds of millions of users across Meta platforms.\"> <link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cyberscoop.com\/meta-fined-passwords-plaintext-ireland-millions-users\/\"> <meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\"> <meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\"> <meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Irish Data Protection Commission fines Meta \u20ac91 million for passwords stored in plaintext\"> <meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The issue, discovered and reported by Meta in 2019, affected hundreds of millions of users across Meta platforms.\"> <meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cyberscoop.com\/meta-fined-passwords-plaintext-ireland-millions-users\/\"> <meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"CyberScoop\"> <meta property=\"article:published_time\" 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js-stickybar\">\n<div class=\"stickybar__details\" readability=\"4.952380952381\">\n<div class=\"stickybar__info js-sticky-bar-content\" readability=\"32\">\n<p>Voting is open for the 2024 CyberScoop 50 awards! <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> <a class=\"stickybar__link button button-tertiary\" href=\"https:\/\/cyberscoop.com\/cyberscoop50\/vote\/\">Click here!<\/a> <\/div>\n<p> <button class=\"stickybar__close js-stickybar-close\" aria-controls=\"stickybar\"> <svg class=\"icon icon--close\" width=\"21\" height=\"22\" viewBox=\"0 0 21 22\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"m.822.518-.805.805L9.695 11 .017 20.678l.805.805 9.678-9.678 9.677 9.678.806-.805L11.305 11l9.678-9.677-.806-.805-9.677 9.677L.822.518Z\" fill=\"currentColor\" \/><\/svg> <span class=\"visually-hidden\">Close<\/span> <\/button> <\/section>\n<article class=\"single-article content\">\n<div class=\"single-article__container js-single-article-content\">\n<header class=\"single-article__header \" readability=\"26.187185929648\">\n<div class=\"single-article__header-content\" readability=\"32.318548387097\">\n<ul class=\"single-article__eyebrow\">\n<li class=\"single-article__category\"> <a class=\"single-article__category-link\" href=\"https:\/\/cyberscoop.com\/news\/technology\/\"> <span>Technology<\/span> <\/a> <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p> The issue, discovered and reported by Meta in 2019, affected hundreds of millions of users across Meta platforms. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"single-article__cover-wrap\">\n<figure class=\"single-article__cover\"> <img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" fetchpriority=\"high\" width=\"640\" height=\"437\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/irish-data-protection-commission-fines-meta-e91-million-for-passwords-stored-in-plaintext.jpg?resize=640%2C437&ssl=1\" class=\"single-article__cover-image wp-post-image\" alt decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/irish-data-protection-commission-fines-meta-e91-million-for-passwords-stored-in-plaintext-2.jpg 5060w, https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/irish-data-protection-commission-fines-meta-e91-million-for-passwords-stored-in-plaintext-2.jpg?resize=300,205 300w, https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/irish-data-protection-commission-fines-meta-e91-million-for-passwords-stored-in-plaintext-2.jpg?resize=768,524 768w, https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/irish-data-protection-commission-fines-meta-e91-million-for-passwords-stored-in-plaintext-2.jpg?resize=1024,699 1024w, https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/irish-data-protection-commission-fines-meta-e91-million-for-passwords-stored-in-plaintext-2.jpg?resize=1536,1049 1536w, https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/irish-data-protection-commission-fines-meta-e91-million-for-passwords-stored-in-plaintext-2.jpg?resize=2048,1398 2048w, https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/irish-data-protection-commission-fines-meta-e91-million-for-passwords-stored-in-plaintext-2.jpg?resize=600,410 600w, https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/irish-data-protection-commission-fines-meta-e91-million-for-passwords-stored-in-plaintext-2.jpg?resize=246,168 246w, https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/irish-data-protection-commission-fines-meta-e91-million-for-passwords-stored-in-plaintext-2.jpg?resize=494,337 494w, https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/irish-data-protection-commission-fines-meta-e91-million-for-passwords-stored-in-plaintext-2.jpg?resize=989,675 989w, https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/irish-data-protection-commission-fines-meta-e91-million-for-passwords-stored-in-plaintext-2.jpg?resize=1235,843 1235w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 989px) 100vw, 989px\"><figcaption> The Meta logo marks the entrance of their corporate headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif., on Nov. 9, 2022. (Photo by JOSH EDELSON\/AFP via Getty Images) <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"single-article__content\">\n<div class=\"single-article__content-inner has-drop-cap\"> <html readability=\"22.140759150474\"><body readability=\"45.103883005547\"><\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dataprotection.ie\/en\">Irish Data Protection Commission<\/a> fined Meta \u20ac91 million \u2014 roughly $102 million \u2014 Friday stemming from an investigation launched in 2019 after the company notified regulators that it had inadvertently stored some passwords internally in plaintext.<\/p>\n<p>The DPC\u2019s investigation found that Meta\u2019s handling of passwords violated several obligations under Europe\u2019s General Data Protection Regulation concerning the handling of passwords connected to users of a given service, the DPC <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dataprotection.ie\/en\/news-media\/press-releases\/DPC-announces-91-million-fine-of-Meta\">said in a statement Friday<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe GDPR requires data controllers to implement appropriate security measures when processing personal data, taking into account factors such as the risks to service users and the nature of the data processing,\u201d the body said in its statement. \u201cIn order to maintain security, data controllers should evaluate the risks inherent in the processing and implement measures to mitigate those risks.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A Meta spokesperson told CyberScoop Friday that the company found that a subset of Facebook users\u2019 passwords were \u201ctemporarily logged in a readable format within our internal data systems.\u201d The company took \u201cimmediate action to fix the error, and there is no evidence that these passwords were abused or accessed improperly.\u201d <\/p>\n<div class=\"ad ad--inline_1 \">\n<div class=\"ad__inner\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Advertisement<\/span> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The company \u201cproactively flagged this issue\u201d to the DPC, \u201cand we have engaged constructively with them throughout this inquiry,\u201d the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n<p>In <a href=\"https:\/\/about.fb.com\/news\/2019\/03\/keeping-passwords-secure\/\">a March 2019 statement<\/a> posted to the company\u2019s website, Pedro Canahuati, Meta\u2019s vice president of engineering, security and privacy, said the company discovered and fixed the issue, and decided to notify \u201chundreds of millions of Facebook Lite users, tens of millions of other Facebook users, and tens of thousands of Instagram users.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>An update posted to the blog on April 18, 2019, said the company discovered additional logs of Instagram passwords having been stored in a readable format, impacting \u201cmillions of Instagram users.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><\/body> <\/p>\n<footer class=\"single-article__footer\" readability=\"1.1855895196507\">\n<div class=\"author-card\" readability=\"8\">\n<div class=\"author-card__avatar\">\n<figure class=\"author-card__image-wrap\"> <img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"author-card__image\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/irish-data-protection-commission-fines-meta-e91-million-for-passwords-stored-in-plaintext-1.jpg?w=640&ssl=1\" alt=\"AJ Vicens\"> <\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><h4 class=\"author-card__name\">Written by AJ Vicens<\/h4>\n<p> AJ covers nation-state threats and cybercrime. He was previously a reporter at Mother Jones. 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{"id":5519,"date":"2024-09-27T10:02:30","date_gmt":"2024-09-27T15:02:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cyberscoop.com\/?p=81958"},"modified":"2024-09-27T10:02:30","modified_gmt":"2024-09-27T15:02:30","slug":"irish-data-protection-commission-fines-meta-e91-million-for-passwords-stored-in-plaintext","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/index.php\/2024\/09\/27\/irish-data-protection-commission-fines-meta-e91-million-for-passwords-stored-in-plaintext\/","title":{"rendered":"Irish Data Protection Commission fines Meta \u20ac91 million for passwords stored in plaintext"},"content":{"rendered":"