boAt hit with big data breach, more than 7.5 million customers’ personal information leaked: report

Data breach affects over 7.5 million boAt customers

• According to a report by Forbes India, a hacker known as ShopifyGUY claimed to have accessed the data of boAt Lifestyle customers.
• On April 5th, the hacker released files containing information from the data breach, which reportedly included the personally identifiable information (PII) of 7.5 million customers.
• As per the report, the hacker uploaded around 2GB of stolen customer data onto a dark web forum.
• Security researchers warn that such data breaches can have far-reaching consequences beyond the immediate exposure of personal details.
• The report mentioned that individuals affected by these breaches may become targets of financial fraud, phishing scams, and identity theft.
• Threat actors could exploit this information to carry out sophisticated social engineering attacks, gaining unauthorised access to bank accounts, conducting fraudulent transactions, and misusing credit cards.
• It is worth mentioning that boAt has not publicly acknowledged the breach so far.

boAt surged to become the second-largest global player in the wearable shipments sector for the third quarter of 2023, as per data from the International Data Corporation (IDC). During this period, boAt shipped a total of 14.3 million wearables.

The homegrown brand faces competition from companies like Fire-Boltt, Noise, Xiaomi, and others, offering a wide range of products from wired earphones to smartwatches.

boAt products are notably priced competitively, catering to a broad consumer base. Additionally, the brand has collaborated with popular Indian celebrities and cricketers, including Kartik Aaryan, Kiara Advani, Hardik Pandya, and others, to promote its products.