Earlier today, an anonymous internet user claimed they had access to the leaked personal information of over 375 million Airtel users in India. The data allegedly includes Aadhaar card numbers, addresses, photos, and other private details. However, Bharti Airtel has denied any such claims related to data breaches through an official statement. Here are the details.
Airtel allegedly gets hacked, exposing personal user data
A user named xenZen made a post on the popular hacking website BreachForums, claiming to have a database of over 375 million Airtel users. The user was trying to sell the data for $50,000. It allegedly contained sensitive information like phone numbers, Aadhaar details, email ID, address, gender, date of birth, etc. The post was made on July 3, 2024.
The hacker also posted a small sample of the leaked data. However, it is unconfirmed whether the data is real or fake. Airtel released a public statement on its official X(formerly Twitter) handle. The telco says that no data breach has happened and that this is just an attempt to harm Airtel’s reputation.
There has been a report alleging that Airtel customer data has been compromised. This is nothing short of a desperate attempt to tarnish Airtel’s reputation by vested interests. We have done a thorough investigation and can confirm that there has been no breach whatsoever from… pic.twitter.com/1b2vs2ud4I
— Bharti Airtel (@airtelnews) July 5, 2024
While the authenticity of the alleged data breach remains questionable, it is important to note that the user xenZen has now been banned from the BreachForums website for scamming people. The same user previously claimed to have leaked the data of diplomatic passport holders from the Ministry of External Affairs, India.
The ongoing Airtel data hack may also be a hoax, as the user remains banned from the portal. One must also note that xenZen joined the BreachForums website just a month ago, in June 2024. No information about the user is known, and any association with large dark-hat hackers is also unknown.
According to TRAI’s data, Airtel has around 374.96 million subscribers in India. The hacker claimed to have data on 375 million Airtel users. A data leak exposing the information of every Airtel user in one event is not very probable, as companies typically store this information across multiple databases and data centres.
