Access to a database that allegedly contains 500 million private user information is being sold on a cybercrime forum. Motherboard reports that the database, which hosts data extracted from Facebook for more than two years, contains people’s phone numbers. He added that aspiring stalkers can use an automated bot for Telegram (messaging app), which allows hackers to look for these numbers to link them to an identity. Access is being sold for research, with a single survey costing $ 20, although you can buy up to 10,000 research credits in batch at a time.
The report says that he tested the bot for himself and found that he could identify the number of a user who chose to keep his phone number private. Facebook reportedly confirmed that the data breach is real and that it is a security issue that was resolved in August 2019. He added that he tested the system and found that the current Facebook IDs were not found in the leak. However, this means that if your phone number was linked to the Facebook database before August 2019, your data may be for sale. Users should be aware of an increase in spam calls and make sure that their accounts contain as little data as possible.