If you have a Facebook, Linkedin, or Clubhouse account, there is a possibility that your data may being sold on the internet. This has become a big topic of discussion over the past two weeks. Even with very minimum information taken and even though it may be public already, there is sill the potential of your other accounts being hacked or even your identity stolen (1). There’s been reports of 530 million Facebook users have been made available on an unknown database, as well as 500 million LinkedIn users that were made available for various sale hacking forums (4). the latest data breach is from Clubhouse, an audio-based app, in which 1.3 million users data was also made public on an online hacker forum (3).
All three platforms each made their own statement. Clubhouse denies for anything of the such to have been a data breach, due to the database on the forum contained information that was already public on a persons profile:
- User ID
- Name
- Photo URL
- Username
- Twitter handle
- Instagram handle
- Number of followers
- Number of people followed by the user
- Account creation date
- Invited by user profile name (2).
The problem of this “leaking” is hat the users may now be targeted phishing or another form of social media cyber attacks. Some users find the data that was “leaked” to be a problem, but as mentioned I don’t think they’re aware they made the profile regarding he information, knowing it was going to be a public account when viewed. Hopefully knowing to be cautious of suspicious messages, they will not fall for the potential phishing attack. Despite the problem occurring for the user, it could be a potential loss to the Clubhouse business (3). Being known for having user data accessed on a hacker forum is up for a loss with people possibly no longer trusting a new social media platform.
Have you ever been worried about your data being taken and sold since using clubhouse, if you’re a member?
Same goes for Facebook, especially since Mark Zuckerberg has been in a legal battle due the selling of users data.
References:
[1] https://cybernews.com/personal-data-leak-check/
[2] https://cybernews.com/security/clubhouse-data-leak-1-3-million-user-records-leaked-for-free-online/
[3] https://www.businessinsider.com/clubhouse-data-leak-1-million-users-2021-4
[4] https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/data-hacks-at-facebook-and-linkedin-spark-concerns-among-users/598093/
[5] https://www.slashgear.com/exposed-clubhouse-user-data-raises-privacy-questions-11667875/
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