The trail of a serious data leak of a popular messenger was discovered by the Safeonweb group. This is a special unit created by the Belgian Cybercrime Center. According to “The Brussels Times”an anonymous user put the phone numbers and user IDs of 3.2 million WhatsApp users up for sale on the dark web.
The dark web is a “hidden” part of the global network that provides access to, among other things, clearly illegal content. To access dark web resources, you need to use a special web browser (e.g. the popular TOR), which works based on onion routing. In short, this technology provides users with anonymity, among other things, by hiding their IP address.
We do not yet know how the data of such a large number of WhatsApp users leaked to the dark web. Meta, the owner of WhatsApp, has not commented on the matter. Safeonweb, however, advises users of the application to remain vigilant. They may soon become targets of hacker attacks. At the same time, the organization suggests enabling two-factor authentication (2FA) in WhatsApp.
Data leak of 3.2 million WhatsApp users. What threatens them?
Hackers can use the obtained data for attacks using phishing, or more precisely one of its varieties, the so-called smishing. This involves extorting data and money using fake SMS messages. In such a scenario, fraudsters can impersonate, for example, an electricity supplier and inform about the need to pay extra to the bill.
Phishing is taking its toll. How to avoid being scammed?
Caution and common sense are the best weapons in the fight against potential threats on the web. Whenever you receive a suspicious email or a questionable text message, answer five simple questions:
- Do you know the sender of the message?
- Have you received other messages from this sender?
- Did you expect to receive this message?
- Do the message title and attachment name make sense?
- Does the message contain malware?
If the answer to any of these questions is “NO”, then ignore this message. Also remember that banks, online payment companies or social networking sites never send messages to customers asking for passwords or other sensitive data. If you have received such an email/text message, then it is definitely from a fraudster.
What if we have fallen victim to a phishing scam? We should contact our bank and request that the account be blocked. If we react quickly, there is a good chance that we will forestall the criminals.
People who have had their money taken from their credit cards by fraudsters are in a much better situation. Card transactions are secured by banks through a chargeback system, which makes it much easier to recover money stolen in this way.