More than 7.5 million boAt customers' customer information has surfaced on the dark web. It is possible to purchase personally identifiable information (PII) such as a name, address, contact number, email ID, customer ID, and more. The threat actor leaked around 2GB of data on the forum.
On April 5, a hacker dubbed ShopifyGUY claimed to have accessed the data of audio products and smartwatch maker boAt Lifestyle. The threat actor leaked data breach files comprising 75,50,000 entries of personally identifiable information (PII) from consumers.
Forbes India validated the report by speaking with a number of the consumers who have recently purchased boAt items.
These data breaches have implications that extend beyond the immediate loss of private data. People are more susceptible to monetary fraud, phishing scams, and identity theft. Threat Intelligence Researcher Saumay Srivastava notes that sophisticated social engineering assaults could be carried out by threat actors who employ users' personal information to get access to bank accounts, carry out transactions, and fraudulently use credit cards.
“The consequences for companies include a loss of customer confidence, legal consequences and reputational harm. The major implications make it even more essential to implement adequate security practices,” Saumya added.
The leaker's profile (ShopifyGUY) is rather new, with only this leak under his belt. Because the data is genuine, the hacker will establish a good reputation among the forum community, increasing future data purchases, explains Rakesh Krishnan, senior threat analyst at NetEnrich.
"Considering the timeline, we can assume that the hackers gained access to the boAt customer database at least one month ago and put the data on the forum yesterday.”
Ideally, the company should notify all users, conduct a thorough investigation into how the attackers gained access and what else they could access, and then overhaul their security measures to ensure this does not happen again, but realistically, it will deny and move on, explains Yash Kadakia, founder of Security Brigade.
The data is available for eight credits on several forums, thus it practically costs two euros to purchase it. It will most likely be available for free on Telegram within a few days. Many scammers will use this information to carry out various phone and email scams, Kadakia noted.
According to an IDC report, boAt, which was founded in 2016 by Aman Gupta, a judge on Shark Tank, and Sameer Mehta, is now the second most popular wearable brand as of the third quarter of 2023. The Gurugram-based business is well-regarded by Indian customers and is renowned for its affordable headphones and other audio equipment. In addition, it produces speakers and smartwatches.
