As of now, there has been no clarification by boAt about the data breach.
Consumer electronics brand boAt has reportedly lost data on 7.5 million customers on the dark web. Personal information about customers, such as name, email ID, customer ID, contact number, and other information, is available for purchase online, as per a report by Forbes.
Around 2GB of data has been leaked, says the report. The hacker, who goes by the name ShopifyGUY, claimed on April 5 that they had breached the data of boAt Lifestyle (a smart watch maker) and also the audio products. All the personally identifiable information of the people is now out there on the dark web, and the worst part is that any scammer can buy the information for a minimal amount of Rs 180 (approximately) from the dark web.
As of now, there has been no notification by boAt about the data breach. Founded in 2016 by Shark Tank judge Aman Gupta and Sameer Mehta, boAT speicalises in providing earbuds, headphones, earphones, and wireless speakers. For the fiscal year ending March 2023, the company earned 3,403.1 crore in revenue (this was against Rs 2,886.4 crore in FY 2022). However, the company incurred a loss of Rs 129.4 crore in FY 2023. In FY 2022, it reported a profit of Rs 68.7 crore.
Cyberattacks have been on the rise in India. Cyber security firm Check Point recently said that the country received “2,138 weekly attacks per organisation.” This was a 15 per cent surge since 2022. Similarly, within APAC, India emerged as the second most targeted nation, with 2,138 attacks per organisation on a weekly basis. India was only behind Taiwan, which reported 3,050 incidents.
Another study by cyber security firm Thales says that ransomware and malware have been on the rise. The report says, “Ransomware and malware stand out as the fastest-growing threats of 2024, with 42 per cent of respondents ranking them as the fastest-growing type of threat. Cloud assets, including SaaS applications, cloud-based storage, and cloud infrastructure management, remain the primary targets for such attacks.”