WhatsApp data breach sees close to 500 million user information up for sale. This means that if you make use of WhatsApp, it just could be that your details may be up for sale.
WhatsApp Data Breach Sees Close to 500 Million User Information Up For Sale
A recent post on a well-known hacking community forum claims almost half a billion of WhatsApp records have been breached and are reportedly up for sale.
The post, which has been confirmed by multiple sources, is likely to be true, and it claims to be selling an up-to-date, 2022 database of 487 million mobile numbers which is used on WhatsApp, and it reportedly contains data from 84 countries.
This simply means that almost one-quarter of all WhatsApp’s estimated two billion monthly active users are possibly at risk at the moment.
Number of Leaks as Per Regions and Countries
Over 32 million leaked records are said to be reported from US users with 11 million on the other hand from UK users. Other nations affected by the breach include Egypt (45 million), Italy (35 million), Saudi Arabia (29 million), France (20 million), Turkey (20 million), and lastly, Russia (10 million).
It seems with various reports that individual data for countries is up for grabs, with the US dataset reportedly up for $7,000 and British numbers on the other hand for a similar per-capita figure of $2,500.
The Authenticity of the Leak Has Been Verified
Most alarmingly, it does not seem to be false or an empty promise that is designed to threaten the social media company, with close to 2,000 numbers shared with Cybernews in a sample request which was then verified to be WhatsApp users.
Leaked phone numbers as you should have known already could be used for any number of reasons, and this is including marketing and phishing, thus highlighting the importance of a good ID theft protection tool.
WhatsApp Has Been In the Headlines for Data Security Once Again
This is not the first time that WhatsApp has been in the headlines for data security, and while it however may not be alone, its history is one that has been plagued and disturbed with vulnerabilities and scams since its inception.
