Facebook Admits It Leaked Developer Reports To App Testers

As Facebook tries to recover its damaged reputation following controversies over how it handles users' personal data, it seems the social media giant still has a few other privacy issues to work on. It was discovered this week that the company had accidentally emailed analytic reports intended for developers to outside testers.

Facebook App Analytics summary emails are supposed to only be sent to a developer and their direct employees, such as analysts and admins. Instead, these emails were sent to app testers, which usually work outside the developer's company. While these emails didn't contain any personal information, they do include important private data, such as page views, weekly average users, new user numbers, and other business information.

The leak was brought to light when a developer contacted TechCrunch after discovering their report from Facebook was sent to a third party. Shortly after, Facebook confirmed that 3% of apps using the App Analytics platform mistakenly had their summary reports sent to testers. The company adds that testers were not able to view any additional beyond what was in the email, and that all impacted app developers will be contacted by Facebook.

The real threat from this leak is to developers, whose business data may end up in the hands of a rival, giving them a critical advantage. The cause of the leak only explained as a bug in Facebook's email delivery system, and that it has since been fixed.

SOURCE TechCrunch