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A post on a “well-known hacking community forum” claims that nearly half a billion WhatsApp records have been breached and are up for sale.
The message, which multiple sources have confirmed to be likely true, claims to sell an up-to-date 2022 database of 487 million mobile numbers used on WhatsApp, which includes data from 84 countries.
This means nearly a quarter of all of WhatsApp’s estimated two billion monthly active users are at risk.
WhatsApp data leak
More than 32 million of the leaked records are said to come from users in the US, with 11 million from UK users. Other affected countries include Egypt (45 million), Italy (35 million), Saudi Arabia (29 million), France (20 million), Turkey (20 million) and Russia (10 million).
It seems that individual country data is up for grabs, with the US data set at $7,000, and UK figures at a similar per-capita figure at $2,500.
Most disturbingly, it doesn’t appear to be an empty promise designed to threaten the Meta-owned company, with nearly 2,000 numbers being shared with Cyber news verified to be WhatsApp users in a sample request.
Leaked phone numbers can be used for a variety of reasons, including marketing and phishing, highlighting the importance of a good identity theft tool.
This isn’t the first time WhatsApp has made headlines in data security, and while it may not be the only one, its history has been plagued with vulnerabilities and scams.
Tech Radar Pro has contacted Meta to verify the authenticity of this seller’s claims and for further comment, which will be posted here if and when received.
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