Underworld Data Broker Leaks 200,000 Facebook Marketplace User Records on Hacking Forum

Approximately 200,000 Facebook Marketplace user records, including email addresses, phone numbers, and other personally identifiable information (PII), have been leaked on a hacking forum.

Partial Facebook Marketplace Database Stolen

The threat actor who claimed responsibility for the leak goes by the name of IntelBroker and claims that the database chunk was stolen from a Meta contractor’s system by somebody known as ‘algoatson’ on Discord.

“In October 2023, a cyber criminal by the name of 'algoatson' on Discord, breached a contractor that manages cloud services for Facebook and stole its partial user database of 200,000 entries,” IntelBroker said.

Phone Numbers, Email Addresses, and More PII Leaked

The leaked database allegedly contains a mixture of PII, including phone numbers, names, email addresses, Facebook profile information, and IDs. In the wrong hands, this data could spell disaster; most of it could be used in targeted attacks and social engineering schemes.

According to BleepingComputer, the data leak seems legitimate, as examining random records in the database revealed several matching email addresses and phone numbers.

IntelBroker’s Involvement in Other Breaches

IntelBroker is a notorious data broker in the cybercrime underworld, known for other leaks, including the DC Health Link breach, which affected several members of the US House of Representatives, the US Cellular data breach, and the US-based grocery delivery platform ‘Weee!’ breach.

The DC Health Link incident was so severe that it led to a congressional hearing, as the accounts and sensitive data of several lawmakers and House staffers were exfiltrated from the compromised servers. Adding insult to injury, IntelBroker claimed at the time that at least one party had bought the leaked data.

Protecting Your Digital Footprint

Unfortunately, safeguarding your devices against intrusions may not always suffice to protect personal data from online leaks. Exercising caution not to overshare personal data with online platforms, including social media services, is crucial in keeping your PII safe.

However, combining mindfulness with data privacy tools can significantly enhance your data security. Bitdefender Digital Identity Protection provides an overview of your online data, including traces from no-longer-used services, notifying you if your data has been leaked in a breach, and lets you instantly patch holes in your digital footprint.