26,000 Malicious Apps Use Facebook APIs

Those APIs give developers easy access to user data.

  • By Dian Schaffhauser
  • 05/02/18

26,000 Malicious Apps Use Facebook APIs 

The mop-up work for Facebook in the wake of its privacy reform could take much longer than we might expect. According to security company Trustlook, there are nearly 26,000 malicious apps currently using at least one Facebook application programming interface, any of which could give those developers access to information from Facebook profiles, including names, locations and email addresses.

The company noted that similar dangers exist in APIs provided for other social sites, including Twitter, LinkedIn, Google and Yahoo.

In response to the privacy problem, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said his company would audit thousands of apps and give users easier tools for managing how their data is used.

Trustlook sells security products and services using artificial intelligence to protect against sophisticated malware and other kinds of attacks.

According to a recent blog article on Trustlook's website, the problems that led to the Cambridge Analytica data-harvesting outrage resulted when developers abused certain Facebook APIs, specifically those associated with its login feature. When Facebook users tap the site's login to connect with other services, they grant those apps' developers access to information on their profiles. Beginning in 2015, the year before the Cambridge Analytica debacle, Facebook also allowed developers to access a bit of data from friends of users who used Facebook Login as well — whether or not they had agreed to hand over their data.

The security company has identified 25,936 "malicious apps" in use by Facebook users. That count was handled through its product, SECUREai App Insights, whose three flavors — mobile, core and IoT — are used by companies that want to embed security into their own products. The technology provides information on apps, including risky API calls and a risk score. According to the firm, three of the top five app stores use the program to assess the risk of the apps allowed into their stores.

"Whether Facebook can accomplish their goals remains to be seen, but it's clear the company needs better visibility into how user information is being handled by third-party apps," the company suggested. "And most likely it needs a sophisticated piece of software to help."

About the Author

Dian Schaffhauser is a former senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal, Campus Technology and Spaces4Learning.

Featured

  • educators seated at a table with a laptop and tablet, against a backdrop of muted geometric shapes

    HMH Forms Educator Council to Inform AI Tool Development

    Adaptive learning company HMH has established an AI Educator Council that brings together teachers, instructional coaches and leaders from school district across the country to help shape its AI solutions.

  • illustration of stacked coins, bar graphs, downward arrows, and two school buildings

    Survey: Top Education and Budget Challenges for Schools

    A recent survey of more than 2,500 educators, school leaders, and district administrators across the country identified the top challenges schools are facing this year. The 2025 National Educator Survey, conducted by PowerSchool, found that teacher shortages and mounting financial uncertainty are persistent pain points across K-12 education.

  • laptop displaying a phishing email icon inside a browser window on the screen

    ED Grant Portal Target of Phishing Campaign

    Threat researchers at BforeAI have identified a phishing campaign spoofing the U.S. Department of Education's G5 grant management portal.

  • laptop with AI symbol on screen

    Google Launches Lightweight Gemma 3n, Expanding Emphasis on Edge AI

    Google DeepMind has officially launched Gemma 3n, the latest version of its lightweight generative AI model designed specifically for mobile and edge devices — a move that reinforces the company's focus on on-device computing.