WhatsApp has denied that any of its data has been compromised in the wake of claims that the phone numbers of almost 500 million WhatsApp users are available for purchase on the Dark Web. According to a study by Cybernews, WhatsApp has close to two billion users, of which 487 million users’ data is available for purchase from 84 countries, including the US, UK, Turkey, and France.
A discussion over the platform’s encrypted messages and cutting-edge security forum was triggered by a Cybernews piece
“The claim written on Cybernews is based on unsubstantiated screenshots. There is no evidence of a ‘data leak’ from WhatsApp,” a WhatsApp spokesperson said. “The purported list is a set of phone numbers and not WhatsApp user information,” it said.
A discussion over the platform‘s encrypted messages and cutting-edge security forum was triggered by a Cybernews piece. How the hacker obtained the numbers he claims to hold is still a mystery.
It also stated in their study that the stolen data came from actual consumers. 32 million registered users from the US, 11 million from the UK, 10 million from Russia, and 6 million from India have their phone numbers at risk, according to the seller’s message.
According to the article, the US dataset costs about $7,000, while the UK dataset only $2,500. According to Cybernews, they got in touch with the hacker to find out whether it was true. The hacker then gave evidence in the form of over 1,000 UK user numbers.
WhatsApp users should exercise caution
The information from the platform held by Meta has been compromised before. A similar incident occurred last year when data from 500 million Facebook users, including India, was compromised. The given phone numbers could be used for spamming, phishing, and possibly serious criminal activity, which is a cause for alarm.
Users of WhatsApp should exercise caution. Never reply to texts or calls from unknown numbers. This is because smishing and vishing could be used by hackers to obtain information. Smishing and vishing refer to hacker use of fake links delivered via text or voicemail. Users risk losing important data or money if they click on these links or take their advice.