Technology

Facebook briefing lawmakers on massive cyber breach

Facebook is briefing lawmakers over the latest massive cybersecurity breach, the company confirmed Wednesday. 

Facebook, which briefed the Department of Homeland Security and FBI last week, is slated to meet with more lawmakers this week, including members of the Senate Intelligence Committee, according to The Wall Street Journal, which first reported the meetings.

{mosads}The extent of details shared with lawmakers and federal agencies is unclear. While Facebook has released some information about the hack, its suspected perpetrators have not been disclosed.

The company has said that it is still in the early stages of its investigation into the breach.

The move appears to be part of the Silicon Valley giant’s efforts to try to get ahead of a breach that could hurt the company and result in undesirable regulations. Lawmakers including Sens. Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) have used the hack to bolster their calls for regulations intended to rein in technology companies.

The company could also face a hefty $1.6 billion fine from the European Union over a possible violation of its new General Data Protection Regulation rules, which went into effect earlier this year.

The breach is the latest controversy for Facebook, which has tried to recover since the Cambridge Analytica data scandal rocked the company earlier this year. 

The controversy, which culminated in Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg testifying in back-to-back congressional hearings in April, concerned data from 87 million Facebook users being improperly obtained by a British research firm that former Trump campaign director Stephen Bannon said he wanted to use for voter suppression efforts.