By AFPMore by this AuthorSAN FRANCISCO,Facebook on Thursday admitted that millions of passwords were stored in plain text on its internal servers, a security slip that left them readable by the social networking platform's employees. The California firm reaches an estimated 2.7 billion people with its core social network, Instagram and messaging applications. The technique allows Facebook's system to recognise valid passwords when users log in, without storing the information in plain text that employees or hackers could read. Facebook said that social network users could harden security by updating to complex passwords and opting to require a second piece of data such as a texted code to access accounts. Last week the social network announced that its chief product officer Chris Cox was leaving, becoming the highest-ranking executive to depart amid the turmoil at the leading social network.

Source: Daily Nation March 22, 2019 04:07 UTC