Posted on November 15, 2022 at 5:55 PM
Whoosh Confirms Hacking Incident, Following Theft Of 7.2 Million User Records
Russian scooter-sharing service Whoosh has announced that it was recently the victim of a data breach. The platform’s network was infiltrated, resulting in the sale of a database containing the details of more than 7 million customers on the dark net.
Whoosh is currently the top urban mobility service platform in Russia. It covers more than 40 cities and has roughly 75,000 scooters.
The Database Is Being Sold On The Dark Net
A hacker started selling the hacked data on the dark net on Friday. According to details from the database, it contains promotion codes that holders can use to access Whoosh’s services for free. It also contains payment card data and partial user identification data.
Whoosh announced the hacking incident earlier this month through statements on Russian media. “The leak did not affect sensitive user data, such as account access, transaction information, or travel details,” according to a Whoosh spokesperson.
However, it claimed that its cybersecurity and IT experts were able to successfully mitigate the attack. However, in the latest development, Whoosh admitted that hackers were able to steal some data.
Whoosh is working with law enforcement and cybersecurity experts to investigate the breach and secure their systems. They are also contacting affected customers and offering them free credit monitoring and identity protection services.
This breach is yet another reminder of the importance of cybersecurity. Companies must take steps to protect their customers’ data or face severe consequences.
Data breaches via third parties have been a regular occurrence this year. But Whoosh stated that its security procedures do not allow the possibility of any third-party access to the full payment data of users.
The Data Is To Be Sold For $21,000
The data also has information on partial payment cards for a subset of 1.9 million users. The seller of the data on the dark net also claimed that it contained about 3 million promo codes, which people can use to rent scooters for free.
The data seller also informed users on the darknet that the database will be sold to only five buyers for .21490980 Bitcoins each (about $4,200). The seller has not sold the data to anyone yet, according to the SatoshiDisk platform utilized for the transaction.
In another sale of the data on Telegram, the hackers claimed that the hacking incident occurred during a cyber attack on Whoosh earlier this month.
Russian Companies Increasingly Getting Exposed
There is no indication that the attack on Whoosh has any link to the war in Ukraine. But Russian organizations are increasingly becoming targets this year. So, it won’t be a surprise if the attack on Whoosh is also related to the war, considering that no ransom was demanded.
In September this year, Group-IB published a report which claimed to observe more than 140 database sales stolen from breached Russian firms this summer alone. The report also claimed that more than 300 million records have been exposed during the period.
One of the most notable incidences was the breach of Russian food delivery giant Yandex Food. The attack resulted in several collateral data exposures.
Among users affected include serving agents of Russia’s military, security services, and other top Russian government agencies. On several occasions, they ordered food at their workplace using their official email addresses.
The Yandex breach includes a large number of phone numbers, user emails, orders made on the platform, as well as addresses of the users that made the orders. Investigations into the matter revealed some leads to the cause of the incident.
However, the food delivery app was highly criticized for how it handled the hacking incident. This led to the involvement of Russian regulator Roskomnadzor, who launched a case against it.
In the breach, over 58,000 people were exposed. In response to the attack, the regulator said Yandex restricted access to an online map where the names and addresses of Yandex.Uda customers were exposed. The regulator slammed Yandex with a fine of 100,000 roubles ($1,020).
This data breach on Whoosh is a serious matter. Whoosh says it is taking the necessary steps to secure its systems and protect its customers, but it is a reminder that companies and individuals must all be vigilant when it comes to cybersecurity. They must take steps to protect their data, as well as the data of those who do business with them.
