After a hacker attack, “Willhaben” makes a request to its users

There was a serious hacker attack on the sales platform willhaben.at. Telephone numbers of registered users were intercepted.

The hackers used the phone numbers to launch a phishing attack on the affected users. We ourselves already reported on this ). The attack was prevented a few hours after it became known by closing the vulnerability. The company did not want to reveal how many users were affected. There are more than a million registered users in Austria.

Now Willhaben turns to its users:

“We would like to inform you that hidden telephone numbers that were not visible to other Willhaben users were read as a result of this attack,” it said in a release. Willhaben also announces that access to passwords or personal data was never possible. “If you have hidden your phone number in your ad(s) and still received a phishing SMS in the past few days, your phone number is unfortunately affected by this illegal access,” writes Willhaben.

Platform asks for help

Some users received an SMS containing a link. According to Willhaben you should under no circumstances open it. In this case, the company also asks you to contact the support team on +43 (0)1 205500-0.

Report to the police

The exact background to the hacker attack is not yet known; investigations are already underway. “Our current investigation measures include official police reports regarding cybercrime as well as corresponding reports to the data protection authority,” the company said.

Users received this information from Willhaben:

Dear willing user,

In addition to the information already provided via push notification and email about a phishing attack via SMS on willhaben users, we would like to inform you that this attack resulted in hidden telephone numbers that were not visible to other willhaben users. This was done with great technical know-how and great criminal energy.

Just a few hours after it became known, willhaben was able to prevent this unauthorized access. You are receiving this email because we are taking the matter very seriously and are informing all users who currently have active marketplace ads on willhaben about this fact.

Important:
If you have hidden your phone number in your ad(s) and still received a phishing SMS in the past few days, your phone number will unfortunately be affected by this illegal access. In this case, we ask you not to open any links contained therein and to contact our support team by phone at 01 205500-0.

We regret that this incident occurred despite our high safety standards and would like to apologize for the circumstances.

At no time was access to passwords or other personal data possible!

Best regards!
Your willhaben team

Source: Willhaben