CouchSurfing, a platform where users allow their homes to be shared by exploring travellers, is looking into a potential data breach that could have leaked details of over 17 million users.
Reports are in that the hackers who accessed the information are selling the data for $700 on Telegram and other forums like RAID- a marketplace to find stolen info. An anonymous source who is actively selling the data says that the information was gathered when the servers of CouchSurfing were breached in the first week of July 2020.
And the stolen data includes usernames, contact numbers and addresses, the user’s actual name and data related to their account settings.
It is still unclear whether the cyber criminals got hold of the passwords of CouchSurfing users.
A Cybersecurity firm was reportedly engaged to investigate the incident as soon as the IT Staff identified the breach.
Note 1- The highlight of this data breach is that the company claims to have 15,000,000 active users. While the hack story claims that info of over 17 million users was leaked to public.
Note 2- CouchSurfing is an online platform that connects members with travelers across the world. It allows the members to share their home with those traveling their hometown, allowing the member to introduce a city, event and culture to the exploring folks.
Note 3- The year 2012, witnessed an app launch from the company targeting both Android and iOS users. And in May 2020, those who paid for “Lifetime Verification” were granted a one year access till May 2021 for ‘zero’ cost.
