WhatsApp phone numbers of nearly 500 million active users leaked and are on sale, says report

Hightlights:

• Over 500 million WhatsApp user’s phone numbers are being sold online in what might be one of the largest data breaches.
• Data Breach includes users from 84 countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Italy, India as well as Egypt
• With US dataset going for $7,000 while the UK and Germany datasets cost $2,500 and $2,000, respectively.

According to a post on a “well-known” hacker community site, about half a billion WhatsApp records have been compromised and are for sale.

Phone number details of over 500 million WhatsApp users are being sold online in what might be one of the largest data breaches. According to Cybernews, an actor advertised on a hacker community site that he was offering a 2022 database of 487 million WhatsApp users phone numbers.

The database, which reportedly dates from 2022, includes users from 84 countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Italy, India as well as Egypt being the most affceted. According to the hacker responsible for the attack, all of the numbers belong to “active” WhatsApp users.

WhatsApp Data Breach, US data on Sale for $7000

According to the actor, the data collection contains approximately 32 million US user records. Specifically, 45 million Egyptians, 35 million Italians, 29 million Saudis, 20 million French, and 20 million Turkish, 6 million Indian users are affected. The database apparently contains about 11 million UK phone numbers and over 10 million Russians phone numbers.

WhatsApp has more two billion active monthly users worldwide, and if the information is correct, we might be looking at one of, if not the, largest data breaches in the platform’s history. Individual nations’ data appears to be for sale, with the US dataset going for $7,000 while the UK and Germany datasets cost $2,500 and $2,000, respectively.

What’s concerning is, it does not appear to be an empty gesture aimed at the Meta-owned firm, with over 2,000 numbers provided to Cybernews and following examination, its researchers discovered that all of them were active WhatsApp users.

“In this age, we all leave a sizeable digital footprint – and tech giants like Meta should take all precautions and means to safeguard that data,” head of Cybernews research team Mantas Sasnauskas said.

WhatsApp Data Breach: How to check if you’re affected or not?

Use Cybernews “personal data leak checker“ to check whether any of your online accounts were compromised in prior security incidents.  You can also check the popular website “Have I been Pwned“. The service, created by Troy Hunt, an Australian web security consultant, analyzes data from hundreds of breaches and millions of stolen accounts, data that is frequently released online and sold by criminals.

WhatsApp has yet to respond to the Cybernews report. Regardless, it is always important to exercise caution before clicking on any links or answering any calls from unknown numbers, since these might be bogus phishing attempts.

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