WhatsApp data leak: initial number of affected is reduced to 360 million, according to report

A file with nearly 500 million telephone numbers of users of WhatsApp from around the world appeared for sale a few days ago in a darknet forum, although analysis by the cybersecurity company Check Point has reduced the figure to 360 million.

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The company has analyzed files related to WhatsApp user data that appeared on the hacking community forum. BreachForums last November 16. Whoever published it claimed that it contained 487 million mobile phone numbers of users of this Meta service.

Now Check Point has confirmed that it is “active phone numbers”whose number drops to 360 million users from 108 countries, as detailed in a press release.

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Despite not containing information on the content of the messages exchanged by users, the technical director of Check Point Software for Spain and Portugal, Eusebio Nieva, points out that it is “a large-scale breach of a popular mobile application used by millions of people around the world.”

The company notes that the files, which include international dialing codes, were released for the first time in the last four days, and they are being distributed freely among cyber criminals.

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“One of the immediate consequences of this breach is the potential for those numbers to be used as part of tailored phishing attacks through the app itself.”especially through SMS, which is known as ‘smishing’, and voice calls or ‘vishing’.

For this reason, the company urges WhatsApp users to be “very attentive to the messages they receive and that they exercise caution when clicking on any link and message shared in the app”warns Snow.

Source: Elcomercio

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