Just before Christmas, hackers leaked around 50 million records full of private information. They shared these leaks on the Dark Web under the name "Free Leaksmas." It seems like they were doing this to thank each other and attract new customers during the busy holiday season.
According to cybersecurity company Resecurity, they noticed that right before Christmas Eve, various hackers released a lot of data all at once. Some of this data seemed to come from previous security breaches, but there were also new breaches involved. The information was either stolen or copied from people worldwide.
“Numerous leaks disseminated in the underground cyber world were tagged with 'Free Leaksmas,' indicating that these significant leaks were shared freely among various cybercriminals as a form of mutual gratitude”, Resecurity wrote on its website.
One of the largest data releases came from a hack at the Peruvian telecom company Movistar. In this data dump, there were about 22 million records with sensitive information like customer phone numbers and DNI numbers (which are the main IDs for people in Peru).
Other big leaks around Leaksmas included one with 2.5 million records from a Vietnamese fashion store's customers and another with 1.5 million records from a French company's customers.
“A significant event during the 'Leaksmas' in the Dark Web involved the release of a large dataset from Movistar, a leading telecommunications provider in Peru. This dataset contained over 22 million records, including customers' phone numbers and DNI (Documento Nacional de Identidad) numbers”, Resecurity added.
Not all the shared data Resecurity noticed during the holidays were from recent hacks; some seemed to be from older incidents. For instance, there was info about customers from a Swedish fintech company, Klarna. The hackers might have gotten this data from a rumoured (though not officially confirmed) breach in 2022.
Another example was a data dump with 2 million records from customers of a Mexican bank. Resecurity's analysis suggested it might have come from a breach in 2021 or 2022.
Over the holidays, cybersecurity experts found groups like SeigedSec and "Five Families" sharing stolen data online.
SeigedSec targeted critical infrastructure in Israel and claimed responsibility for a breach in the Idaho National Laboratory. "Five Families" stole records from a Chinese store due to labour issues. Some criminals selling credit card data offered discounts. Cybercriminals are keen on getting personal info and exploiting weaknesses in websites and software.