Nearly 500 million WhatsApp users’ mobile numbers have been exposed to one of the greatest data breaches ever, and they are currently for sale. According to a Cybernews article, the database includes the personal data of WhatsApp users from 84 different countries and is being sold on a well-known hacker site.
WhatsApp has disputed the allegations
“The Cybernews article’s assertion is based on erroneous screenshots. There is no proof of a ‘data leak’ from WhatsApp, according to a spokeswoman. The author of the content claims that there are 32 million US users. A total of 32 million people utilize the US. The US dataset may be purchased for $7,000 while the UK dataset would set you back $2,500, according to the report.
When the seller was approached by Cybernews, he allegedly gave 1,097 UK-based phone numbers as evidence. The newspaper looked into the numbers and discovered they were all from WhatsApp accounts. The hacker made no mention of how they got the information, though. These specifics are regularly used in online crimes like smishing and vishing, which both involve text messaging the victim and asking them to click on a link. Following that, the user is asked for their credit card number or other personal data.
It has happened before that a Meta-owned platform has experienced a data leak
Over 500 million Facebook users’ personal information was allegedly compromised last year, including 6 million users’ records from India. Then, contact information including phone numbers was exposed.
An actor advertised a 2022 database of 487 million WhatsApp user mobile numbers on a well-known hacking group forum on November 16. 84 different countries worth of WhatsApp user data are reportedly included in the file. Over 32 million user records for US citizens, according to the threat actor.
Egypt (45 million), Italy (35 million), Saudi Arabia (29 million), France (20 million), and Turkey (20 million) each have a sizable population of phone numbers. Approximately 10 million Russian and over 11 million UK phone numbers are also reportedly included in the dataset for sale.
According to the threat actor, they were asking $7,000, $2,500, and $2,000 respectively for the US dataset, the UK dataset, and the German dataset. We advise consumers to be aware of any calls from ominous numbers, unwanted calls, and texts because attackers frequently utilize this information for smishing and vishing attacks.
Over two billion users of WhatsApp are reportedly active each month
More than 32 million US consumers’ information is included in the data gathering, claims the threat actor. Africa (45 million)More than 32 million US consumers, according to the threat actor, had their information collected. Egypt (45 million users), Italy (35 million), France (20 million), Saudi Arabia (29 million users), and Turkey (20 million users) are among the nations that are impacted. Around 11 million Britons and roughly 10 million Russians are supposedly represented in the database via their phone numbers.
on users) is similarly affected, as are Italy (35 million), Saudi Arabia (29 million), France (20 million), and Turkey (20 million). Over 11 million Britons and about 10 million Russians’ phone numbers are reportedly included in the database. The threat actor wants $7,000 (or $5,71,690) for the US dataset, the publication claims. The cost of the datasets for the UK and Germany, however, is $2,500 (or roughly $2,04,175) and $2,000 (or roughly $1,63,340), respectively.
A sample of the data was provided to Cybernews researchers upon request from the supplier of WhatsApp’s database. In the shared sample, there were 1097 UK and 817 US user numbers. Cybernews looked into every number in the sample and was able to establish that every single one of them does use WhatsApp.
The seller confirmed to Cybernews that every number in the instance belongs to an actual WhatsApp user, but they did not provide any further details on how they obtained the database, other than to state that they “used their strategy” to compile the data. When Cybernews contacted WhatsApp’s parent company, Meta, they did not answer right away.
It is against WhatsApp’s terms of service to use scraping, also known as scalable data collection, to get user WhatsApp information. It’s a completely speculative claim. However, large data dumps that are published online frequently end up being the consequence of scraping.
A dark forum revealed more than 533 million user records from Meta, which has long been accused of allowing third parties to scrape or harvest user data. The dataset was essentially being given away by the actor. Days after reports of a massive Facebook data leak broke, an archive purportedly containing information taken from 500 million LinkedIn profiles was put up for sale on a well-known hacker website.
Also read : CYBERCRIMES YOU MUST BE AWARE OF
Leaked phone numbers may be used for marketing, fraud, phishing, and impersonation. Cybernews research team manager Mantas Sasnauskas said, “In this day and age, we all leave a sizable digital footprint, and tech giants like Meta should take all precautions and means to safeguard that data.” We should think about whether the extra phrase “scraping or platform misuse is not permitted in the Terms and Conditions” is adequate. Given that threat actors don’t care about such words, businesses should make strict efforts to reduce risks and prevent platform abuse.
Regular users should adopt simple cybersecurity precautions to avoid the effects of personal data leaks, such as phishing or malware assaults. This includes a dependable antivirus program like TotalAV that blocks several types of cyber threats. Consider looking at the top VPN services available that encrypt your data for online privacy. For illustration, we suggest NordVPN.
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