Personal data of 7.5 million Boat customers data leaked on dark web
Boat devices — smartwatches, headphones, true wireless earbuds — are used by millions in the country. According to a report by IDC, Boat is the number one brand in the Indian wearables market. The homegrown brand had 26% market share, as per data shared by IDC in February 2024. Boat is also the market leader in the TWS (true wireless) earbuds market in India. As per IDC, Boat has close to 34% market share in the TWS category.
Since Boat also sells smartwatches, chances of sensitive health information of users being leaked cannot be ruled out.
What Boat has to say
In an official statement shared with Moneycontrol, Boat said, “boAt is aware of recent claims regarding a potential data leak involving customer information. We take these claims seriously and have immediately launched a comprehensive investigation. At boAt, safeguarding customer data is our top priority.”
boAt Data Breach: Data of 7.5 million boAt customers has been leaked and is selling on the dark web, as per a report by Forbes India. Name, address, contact number, email ID, customer ID and more of boAT customers is available for purchase, it added. A hacker named ShopifyGUY claimed to breach the data of audio products and smartwatch maker boAt Lifestyle and dumped files of data breach with access to information of customers, it was reported.
What could be the impact of the data breach?
boAt Data Breach: Keeping aside the immediate loss of personal information, the data breach also makes boAT customers more vulnerable to financial fraud, scams and identity theKeeping aside the immediate loss of personal information, the data breach also makes boAT customers more vulnerable to financial fraud, scams and identity theft as threat actors can use personal details of individuals to get access to bank accounts, conduct transactions and use credit cards. Threat Intelligence Researcher Saumay Srivastava told Forbes, “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 practice."What we know about ShopifyGUY- the leaker?
Unlock exclusive access to the story of India's general elections, only on the HT App. Download Now!The leaker's profile (ShopifyGUY) is relatively new and owing to the this breach, the hacker will gain a good reputation among the forum community, Rakesh Krishnan, senior threat analyst at NetEnrich told Forbes. He said, “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.”
Meanwhile Yash Kadakia, founder of Security Brigade said, “The data is available for eight credits on some forums, so literally, it costs two euros to buy the data. It'll probably be available for free in a few days on Telegram. This data will be used by a lot of scammers for different phone and email scams.”Founded in 2016 by Shark Tank judge Aman Gupta and Sameer Mehta, boAt is the second most popular wearable brand in the third quarter of 2023, as per IDC report.
