The WhatsApp data leak is not an entirely new phenomenon. Not long ago, a privacy breach at WhatsApp's headquarters caused a commotion; this time, a significant privacy breach at WhatsApp was suspected. If rumours are to be believed, one of the worst data breaches ever resulted in the sale of roughly 500 million WhatsApp users' phone numbers. According to a report by Cybernews, the database, which is for sale on a well-known hacker forum, contained the personal data of WhatsApp users from 84 different countries. However, WhatsApp has refuted the claims.
A spokesperson from Whatsapp said, "The claim written on Cybernews is based on unsubstantiated screenshots. There is no evidence of a 'data leak' from WhatsApp." When rumours of a data leak surfaced on the internet, it alarmed users, who flocked to the microblogging site to react. It also sparked a memefest. One user wrote, "What? Another Data breach. I can't keep up this week." Another user wrote, "End to End encryption makes your data safe not even WhatsApp can see it...is the biggest joke ever #WhatsApp." A third user commented, "Whatsapp breach again, this social media giant still having issues..But i feel there must be a good scene at whatsapp headquarters, Whatsapp your hiring? Mailed you CV already #WhatsApp."
While some users expressed their disappointment over the privacy breach after claiming end-to-end encryption, others took hilarious jabs at the incident.
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Last year, a major privacy breach occurred at Facebook headquarters when personal information pertaining to over 500 million Facebook users was made public on an online forum. The information contained profile names, Facebook ID numbers, email addresses, and phone numbers. In the current technological age, privacy breaches on the major social media platforms are not unheard of, so one must undoubtedly keep track of the information they share on these sites.
