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Prominent Indian electronic manufacturer boAT was allegedly hit with a massive data breach on April 5, affecting over 7.5 million customers. The leaked data includes Personally Identifiable Information (PII) like names, addresses, contact numbers, email IDs, and customer IDs.
Cybersecurity experts have traced back the breach to a cybercriminal named ShopifyGUY. The hacker claims to have accessed and leaked approximately 2 GB of data related to boAT customers, reported Forbes India.
The hacker behind the breach, ShopifyGUY, is relatively new but stands to gain recognition within dark web circles, potentially leading to further breaches and data sales.
Cybersecurity researchers are still unsure about the exact time of the breach. “Considering the timeline, we can assume that the hackers gained access to the boAt customer database at least one month ago,” says senior threat analyst Rakesh Krishnan.
As the data is available on dark web forums, boAT customers could expect phishing emails, calls, and random text messages luring them to click on a link. If they click on the malicious link, the hackers can install malware on the devices, or the customers will land on phishing sites where they must enter their personal information.
To legitimise their phishing communication further, scammers can also act like the official boAT customer care and ask you to change your password under the pretext of this leak.
“The data is available for eight credits on some forums, so literally, it costs two euros to buy the data. It’ll probably be available for free in a few days on Telegram. This data will be used by a lot of scammers for different phone and email scams,” says Yash Kadakia, founder of Security Brigade.
Despite the massive data breach, the company has not issued an official statement and it is unclear whether it has notified the affected customers.
To check whether your email has been affected, go to Have I Been Pwned and enter your email address.
We reached out to boAT for comment and will update the story when we receive a response.
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