TikTok hack: Attacker claims to have exposed more than a billion users

Researchers in cyber security have expressed concern that an alleged TikTok attack may have exposed the data of more than 1 billion users.Information Guide Nigeria

Over the weekend, reports of a data breach initially surfaced on a well-known hacking forum, with hackers claiming to have taken advantage of an unprotected server hosting the personal data of TikTok users.

The allegations came at the same time as a security advisory from Microsoft alerting users to a “high-security vulnerability” in TikTok’s Android app that could have “compromise users’ accounts with a single click” for attackers.
The suspected hackers assert that they have access to about 34GB of TikTok users’ data.

“We have to decide if we want to sell it or release it to the public,” a user named AgainstTheWest wrote on a Breach Forums message board.

“About 1.37 billion entires have been pulled… The entries are from all over the world… This data contains a lot of underaged people.”

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A 237MB sample of the files listed on the hacker forum was examined by security researcher Troy Hunt, who runs the Have I Been Pwned data breach service utilised by numerous national governments.JAMB Result

Using the sample, Mr. Hunt claimed that he could not confirm the validity of the breach because the information was already available to the public.

“This is so far pretty inconclusive,” he tweeted on Monday. “Some data matches production info, albeit publicly accessible info. Some data is junk, but it could be non-production or test data. It’s a bit of a mixed bag so far.”

A TikTok spokesperson denied that any breach had occured, adding that the vulnerability identified by Microsoft “is completely unrelated” to TikTok’s backend source code.

“TikTok prioritizes the privacy and security of our users’ data,” a spokesperson told The Independent. “Our security team investigated these claims and found no evidence of a security breach.”

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