Truecaller database Hacked

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amar

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Syrian Electronic Army hacks into Truecaller database.
Truecaller has officially confirmed that it was hacked.
Truecaller, a collaborative phone directory that uses crowdsourcing to build its database, has allegedly been hacked into by a group that calls itself the Syrian Electronic Army (SEA). The group of hackers claimed to have access to more than a million Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google


and Yahoo accounts that are linked to the Truecaller service. “Sorry @Truecaller, we needed your database, thank you for it 🙂,” read the group’s post on the microblogging website.
The SEA’s website also declared that the over 600GB of hacked data had been sent to the Syrian government.

Founded in 2009, Sweden-based Truecaller is available on the web and as an app for the iPhone, Android, Blackberry, Symbian and Windows phones. The service works by collecting contact information stored in the users’ phones or on their social networking profiles.

The SEA claims to have defaced or compromised several websites in the past — their most highlighted work arguably being the attack on the Associated Press news agency. On April 23, 2013, the group had tweeted from the wire service’s account that the White House was attacked and that President Barack Obama had been injured.

If the latest claim made by the SEA is to be believed, users from countries such as China, Turkey and Hong Kong are among those hit by the ‘hack-attack’. The group posted a screenshot on its Twitter account showing contact details of users from these countries, 15 hours after the first post related to the Truecaller attack was made.
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I dnt know why were they logging facebook and twitter access codes? Do i need to change the passwords now or what?
 
Never used this app after reading it's description.
I've urged many users not to use such free contact sharing apps, they were always a threat 🙁
 

In that case, tell them to stop using apps like Facebook, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp and ChatOn as well.
 
I m in favour of Madhusan's views. True caller is already using stolen database, dont know from where they steal such huge number of contacts. I am saying this because
Most of the name/number in true caller isnt the registered name i.e the person whose id is submitted with particular number.
when i search my own number in true caller it shows "amit reliance". here someone might have saved my no. with this name (as my no. was originally on reliance network befor mnp), and the so called fake "true caller" stole that person's contact list and uploaded it.
so many examples from my phonebook like one number is showing "Mausi ji" as the owner of that number, WTH
I immediately uninstalled fake caller.
facebook, chaton, whatsapp are much reliable in comparison to this true caller.
 
Of course TrueCaller depends upon your uploaded contacts database. That was pretty obvious I guess.
 
chromaniac said:
Of course TrueCaller depends upon your uploaded contacts database. That was pretty obvious I guess.
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i dont think that one will upload his own contact list to true caller knowingly, (may be i am wrong).
 
People are not manually submitting their information right? Also, how many people actually go through the permissions and check for what the app asks them to do? You hear about this cool app that can show you the ID of any number, you would install it and think about it later on. In the process, you have just submitted your entire contacts list to the service.
TrueCaller from what I understand allows you to permanently remove your own number from their database.
You will also be asked to share the names and numbers contained in Your device’s address book (“Contact Information”) with Truecaller and other Users. If you choose to do so, the numbers and names connected to them will be up-loaded, stored and used in the Truecaller database for Enhanced Search, see further below. Until further notice, Contact Information up-loaded from devices onto which the Truecaller App has been downloaded from Google Play will not, however, be made searchable via Enhanced Search.
In addition to Contact Information, if You choose to activate use of a third party Social Network Service, such as Facebook, LinkedIN or Twitter, within the Truecaller App, Truecaller may up-load, store and use the list of identifiers associated with said services linked to the Contact Information in order to enhance the results shared with other Users.
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https://goo.gl/UpxAc
Here is where you unlist your own number. Hidden deep inside their FAQs.
 
amitnsonu said:
I m in favour of Madhusan's views. True caller is already using stolen database, dont know from where they steal such huge number of contacts. I am saying this because
Most of the name/number in true caller isnt the registered name i.e the person whose id is submitted with particular number.
when i search my own number in true caller it shows "amit reliance". here someone might have saved my no. with this name (as my no. was originally on reliance network befor mnp), and the so called fake "true caller" stole that person's contact list and uploaded it.
so many examples from my phonebook like one number is showing "Mausi ji" as the owner of that number, WTH
I immediately uninstalled fake caller.
facebook, chaton, whatsapp are much reliable in comparison to this true caller.
Click to expand...
lol, I guess you do not care to read what the app asks you permission for. It does ask you if its authorized to access your contacts list.

I find it quite useful, especially when it comes to spam calls which I promptly can disconnect without wasting time.
 
The problem is that 95% people would not do so. And that means your details can and would get uploaded though some route or the other. It does not matter if you are careful out not.
 
Iirc, once your number is unlisted, it won't get added back again. Whether it persists in their database is another question.
 
And how many people know that their number is listed in this database from a private company? And god knows how many more such databases are there?The problem are the apps. Any app that makes data of my contacts public without them knowing about it should be considered a malware. As simple as that.Even Facebook was forced to provide an option to block my friends from sharing my personal information to third party apps.So. Checked my dad's number. It's there. :Checked my mom's number. Her number is saved as Chachi. I can actually guess who submitted her number to TrueCaller.Now apply for unlisting for both the numbers. 🙂
 

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