Facebook to remove bug that collects phone numbers

An online security company has exposed a bug in Facebook’s Android app, which collects phone numbers without permission, even if the users are not members of the social networking site or sign into the app. According to the Huffington Post, the problem has been confirmed by Facebook and would be addressed in the new version of the app, with a spokesman for the social networking site revealing that the flaw came up in February this year.

Symantec, announced on their blog that Facebook’s Android App was ‘leaking’ phone numbers of Android devices on which it had been installed, which could send the numbers straight to the site’s servers, with more than ‘hundreds of millions of devices’ affected by the bug.However, Facebook’s spokesman has said that the social network did not ‘use or process the numbers in any way,’ stating that it was a bug for which they thanked Symantec’s notice and it was already fixed in the next version of the app, which would be available for download today.