Fact Check: Is Clubhouse hacking subscribers' phone data?
Social media users are claiming that Clubhouse has allegedly hacked 3.8 billion phone numbers and they are up for sale on Darknet.
By Tejal Sinha Published on 30 July 2021 5:29 AM GMT
Hyderabad: Social media users are claiming that Clubhouse has allegedly hacked 3.8 billion phone numbers and they are up for sale on Darknet.
A similar claim has also been shared on Twitter.
Fact Check
The claim is False.
NewsMeter performed a Keyword search of the viral claim and found many reports published by the mainstream media.
We found a report published by Tribune India. It has been headlined 'There has been no data breach, the report. "As the news of data breach surfaced online revealing that millions of phone numbers of Clubhouse users are 'up for sale' on Dark Web, the chat app maker on Sunday informed that there has been no data breach," the report said.
The company also said that it continues to invest in industry-leading security practices, as privacy and security are of the utmost importance to Clubhouse.
"There are a series of bots generating billions of random phone numbers," the company's spokesperson told IANS.
A report by Business Today on July 24, 2021, stated that Clubhouse CEO Paul Davison has denied the viral claim. The Clubhouse Twitter account had also issued a statement. "This is misleading and false. The Clubhouse has not been breached or hacked. The data referred to is all public profile information from our app, which anyone can access via the app or our API," it said.
News18 report titled 'Clubhouse Denies Allegations That Claimed 3.8 Billion Phone Numbers Available on Dark Web' stated that several experts have weighed in on the issue, rubbishing the hacker's claims.
Security researcher Rajshekhar Rajaharia told the news agency that the list of phone numbers, like in this case, can be generated very easily, and the data leak claim appears fake.
Another researcher Sunny Nehra noted that the threat actor is quite new on that forum, is least active, and habitual to making such "lame claims".
Earlier in April, Clubhouse denied another breach allegation after a report claimed that a database containing 1.3 million scraped records of the platform's users were posted on a popular hacker forum.
Clubhouse users do not need to worry about their data. However, it is imperative to follow recommended cybersecurity practices. While you can check whether your data is compromised via sites like `Have I Been Pwned', it is crucial to keep strong passwords.
Users must also keep updating passwords and add two-factor authentication wherever is possible, the report said.
It is therefore evident that the claim is False. Clubhouse has denied hacking phone numbers.
