A Huge Facebook Security Flaw Could Allow Hackers to Steal Your Identity in Seconds

With the amount of time we spend every day interacting with and using social media, we would hope by now that these websites are able to keep our private information just that—private.

But Reza Moaiandin, an online security expert, has recently claimed that our identities could be stolen at the drop of a hat—and all with the use of a single search on Facebook. Moaiandin claims that he wasn't even searching for flaws in Facebook's security when he came across the major privacy breach, which is all the more worrisome.

By merely entering someone's phone number in the search bar at the top of Facebook's site, hackers can access that person's name, location, picture and other super personal, private information. Afterwards, this information can easily be sold—and the rest is history.

There are currently 1.44 billion people using the popular social media site—what does this mean for online security on social media? Despite the terrifying possibilities of this kind of "reverse engineering," there is good news. 

You can easily prevent the threat by simply not listing your phone number anywhere on your Facebook profile. If you don't link your phone number to your account, it cannot be linked to your online identity.

Also, maintaining strict privacy settings could also prevent potential hackers from swiping your identity through your Facebook profile.