An unknown person is offering around 487 million WhatsApp numbers for sale in a hacker forum. As Cybernews reports, over 6 million contacts from Germany and over 1.2 million contacts from Austria are also affected.
WhatsApp hackers: In total, WhatsApp users from 84 countries are affected
Most of the data comes from Egypt, with 44.8 million, as well as Italy with 35.6 million and the USA with 32.3 million. If all phone numbers are correct, the entire data set represents around a quarter of the approximately 2 billion WhatsApp users.
Cybernews was able to examine a dataset of around 2,000 WhatsApp numbers from the UK and US. The check revealed that these numbers could also be assigned to active WhatsApp users. When asked, the unknown person did not reveal how he/she got the numbers and data.
One method would be so-called scraping. Here, numbers are automatically searched through (e.g. from other leaks, but also from other sources) and checked to see whether there are active WhatsApp users behind them. Although scraping is against the WhatsApp rules , it would technically be possible.
WhatsApp writes: About collecting personal data
Collecting large amounts of information, also known as scraping, using automated or manual tools for an unauthorized purpose violates WhatsApp's Terms of Service. Scrapers may attempt to search for and store users' information on the WhatsApp platform, including users' phone numbers, profile pictures, and statuses.
Protect your privacy on WhatsApp
For example, share your profile picture, your profile information or your status only with your own contacts.
Note: There are services online like “Have I Been Pwned?” ( haveibeenpwned.com ), where you can enter your email address in addition to your phone number to see whether you have been affected by a leak. The current disadvantage, however, is that the data sets from the current leak have not yet been implemented. That's why you can't currently determine whether your own number is included.
Information: If you receive a WhatsApp message from someone stranger, ignore it and do not click on any links or open any files, images or videos.
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Source: Cybernews.com
Also read our WhatsApp warning about “Amazon Black Friday 2022”
Notes:
1) This content reflects the current state of affairs at the time of publication. The reproduction of individual images, screenshots, embeds or video sequences serves to discuss the topic. 2) Individual contributions were created through the use of machine assistance and were carefully checked by the Mimikama editorial team before publication. ( Reason )