A few days back, a researcher uncovered an online database that had collated the data of 267 million Facebook users and most of these users, are based in the U.S.
User’s Facebook IDs, phone numbers and names, could have, potentially, been used, to initiate cybercrimes, such as phishing, spam, etc.
With Facebook, set to launch its own Operating system, how will it curb the danger of data breach?
For quite some time now, Facebook has been embroiled, in one scandal, or, another, but one scandal seems to hit the most is, the user-privacy debacle and from all indications, the issue will drag on, for a while.
As the giant social media network struggles, to defend itself from the data scandals that have become part of the regular news cycle, it has initiated plans that will see it, launch a new operating system, rather than running hardware, on a competitor.
This move was disclosed, during an interview, given by Facebook’s Vice President of Hardware, Andrew Bosworth.
He stated that, the company is working, on an operating system, for the next generation of technology. “We really want to make sure the next generation has space for us”, he stressed.
“We didn’t think we can trust the marketplace, or, competitors to ensure that’s the case and so, we’re going to do it ourselves”, explained Bosworth in the interview.
From all indications, Facebook OS will, probably, be deployed for Facebook’s hardware, which includes Facebook Portal, Oculus Virtual Reality Headsets, etc.
Facebook has, also, stated that, its custom OS could be a missing piece needed, to Augmented Reality glasses.
Here is, however, the flip side; irrespective of this daring move, by Facebook, will still rely, partially, on their competitor’s product.
The operating system will limit what apps can do, until the capability is, fully supported, by the OS, however, as long as Facebook is, still looking for a custom OS for its own hardware, the move would, likely, have no effect, on users that are using Facebook apps on iOS and Android devices.
Basically, how this move, by Facebook, would affect user privacy is, still hazy, but the social media giant has already initiated the use of data, from devices, including Oculus and Portal, to serve up, more targeted ads, on Facebook itself.
This move, by Facebook, will still take time. No doubt that, data security is one issue, bedeviling the tech giant, but the Facebook-owned OS, looks very promising, to resolve this.
Featured Image: vulcanpost
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