Many services now require binding with the user’s phone number. Unlike email binding, you may have several mailboxes, but most people only have one mobile phone number. Recently, a huge amount of data leakage incident seemed extremely exaggerated. It was reported that the phone numbers of users of the popular messaging software Whatsapp were leaked. The amount of nearly 500 million data from all over the world is quite staggering.
Nearly 500 million WhatsApp users’ phone numbers around the world were put up for sale by hackers
The popular messaging software Whatsapp has approximately 2 billion users worldwide and is currently the largest messaging platform. The 480 million pieces of data leaked this time accounted for almost a quarter of the total users and covered 84 countries/regions. The hackers have already put these leaked phone numbers up for sale on forums and marked them as the latest version in 2022.
The leaked user phone numbers come from all directions, with the largest number including more than 32 million from the United States, 45 million from Egypt, 5 million from Italy, 29 million from Saudi Arabia, 20 million each from France and Turkey, 10 million from Russia, and 11 million from the United Kingdom. Even though there are not that many users in Taiwan, there are still nearly 73.5. Wanbi phone numbers are in this batch of lists.
According to a report by Cybernews, after contacting the hackers who published the sales information, they did not specify how to obtain the database, and implicitly stated that they used “their own methods” to collect information, and ensured that these phone numbers belonged to active Whatsapp users. The hackers may not have technically compromised Whatsapp, but instead obtained data on a large scale through web scraping, which involves running an automated script on the web version to confirm whether the phone number has been used for Whatsapp registration.
For what purposes will the leaked phone numbers be used?
In the Internet age, users leave considerable digital footprints on the Internet. Many communication software will require you to connect your mobile phone number in order to integrate the user’s contact list. Although the convenience is greatly increased, it also requires greater risks when it is leaked. So, what can these leaked mobile phone numbers be used for? The most common use is that you will receive a steady stream of advertising calls and advertising text messages, and it is also used by unscrupulous people for phishing, impersonation, and fraud. Tech giants like Meta, the parent company of WhatsApp, should take all measures to protect the personal data delivered out of trust. Although actions such as web scraping violate the terms, unscrupulous people will not pay attention to the wording of these texts, and companies should take this aspect more seriously.
Source: KOCPC Chinese