Meta Warns 1 Million Facebook Users Of 400 Malicious Apps Designed To Steal Data

Facebook has detected more than 400 malicious apps designed to steal personal information from social media accounts.

Meta, Facebook's parent company, announcement the discovery on Friday after alerting Apple and Google to the apps, which were set up to steal victims' Facebook credentials.

Stay up-to-date on the latest news with The National Briefing - keeping you in the loop with news as it hits:

Promoted as flashlight apps, photo editing tools, and games, the malicious software is designed to lure users into handing over their social media login details whereby their data can be accessed.

"The applications would promise features like the ability to turn a photo of yourself into a cartoon, but as soon as you download and open the app, it would prompt you to log in with Facebook," David Agranovich, Meta's director of threat disruption said.

"We're being kind of deliberately overcautious and notifying about 1 million users across our entire platform that they may have been exposed to applications like this," Mr Agranovich said.

Meta is urging users who may have been targeted to reset their password, enable two-factor authentication on their accounts, and turn on login alerts.

It comes as Australia grapples with the issues of cyber security and personal data after last month's Optus data breach.

The Briefing serves up the latest news headlines and a deep dive into a topic affecting you. Hosted by Tom Tilley and co-hosts Katrina Blowers, Antoinette Lattouf, Rhianna Patrick and Jamila Rizvi. Published Monday to Saturday at 6am for a thorough briefing on the news of the day. Hear it on the Listnr App.