14 DAY TRIAL // Facebook for Android, one of the most popular applications on Google’s mobile operating system, has been confirmed to pack a bug that resulted in users’ phone numbers being sent to the social network and stored on its servers without permission.
According to ReadWrite, the company officially confirmed the existence of the bug, while also unveiling that it has been fixed in the latest flavor of the software, currently available for download in beta form.
Apparently, the Facebook for Android application was saving users’ phone numbers without their permission even if they were not logged in to their accounts.
In fact, a Facebook account was not needed for this to happen. The numbers were grabbed even in the event that the user installed the app and only launched it on an Android device.
The bug was discovered by Symantec earlier this week, after it released an update to its Norton Mobile Security app for Android.
"The first time you launch the Facebook application, even before logging in, your phone number will be sent over the Internet to Facebook servers," Symantec explained.
No specific info on how many users have been affected by the bug has been disclosed, yet it is possible that millions had their phone numbers logged to Facebook’s servers, given that the software has over 100 million downloads in the Google Play Store.
As mentioned above, the latest beta version of Facebook for Android, which was made available for download yesterday, resolves the issue, though not all users out there have installed it, that’s for sure.
Those who would like to get it can either join the Facebook Beta Testing Program, or can simply wait for the final release to arrive, most probably in a few weeks.
Facebook also says that it has already deleted all the phone numbers that were logged to its servers, and that it makes the same move each time a phone number is being logged until the bug fix is delivered to all users.