Database leaked 419 million phone numbers scraped from Facebook

Details: Researcher Sanyam Jain discovered the database and worked with TechCrunch to find a responsible party to secure the information from public view. While the database's owner could not be determined, the web host took the data down.

• The database included 133 million Facebook users based in the U.S.
• Though the collection of data had to have been compiled before Facebook removed phone numbers from profiles, TechCrunch found that the phone numbers still worked.

Why it matters: There's no evidence the document was discovered by a malicious party before the data was scrubbed from the web. But a massive list of phone numbers would make several forms of mischief easier.

• That might include spam phone calls or hackers leveraging the numbers to take over accounts using a technique known as SIM swapping.

Go deeper... Report: Facebook ties names to authentication phone numbers