There’s been news about a WhatsApp data breach. Almost half a billion WhatsApp records are allegedly compromised and for sale. This is according to a post on a “well-known hacker community forum.”

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The article claims to be offering a current database of 487 million cell numbers used for WhatsApp. Which covers information from 84 countries, and many sources have corroborated that the post is likely accurate.

This indicates that nearly a quarter of WhatsApp’s two billion monthly active users may be in danger.

 

WhatsApp data breach

According to reports, more than 32 million of the stolen documents came from US consumers. While 11 million came from users in the UK. Egypt (45 million), Italy (35 million), Saudi Arabia (29 million), France (20 million), Turkey (20 million), and Russia are among the other countries (10 million).

With the US dataset going for $7,000 and the British data going for a comparable per-capita price of $2,500, it appears that specific countries’ data is up for grabs.

The most concerning part is that roughly 2,000 of the numbers supplied with Cybernews in a sample request were confirmed to be WhatsApp users, indicating that it doesn’t appear to be a hollow threat intended to intimidate the Meta-owned company.

The potential uses of leaked phone numbers, such as phishing and marketing, underscore the necessity of an effective ID theft prevention technology.

While WhatsApp may not be alone in this, it has a history of weaknesses and fraud. This is not the first time that WhatsApp has made news about data security.

Naysblog has contacted Meta to inquire about the veracity of this seller’s claims and to request additional information. If we hear back from Meta, we’ll put it here.