Privacy has become a very important issue in modern society, with companies and governments constantly abusing their power, more and more people are waking up to the importance of digital privacy.
In this community everyone is welcome to post links and discuss topics related to privacy.
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Anyone can access 3.5B phone numbers on WhatsApp. Meta says this is not a problem and phone numbers are "basic publicly available information".
https://9to5mac.com/2025/11/18/whatsapp-security-flaw-exposed-3-5b-phone-numbers-including-yours/
https://tech.yahoo.com/cybersecurity/articles/3-5b-whatsapp-numbers-were-131821434.html
https://techlore.tech/whatsapp-leaked-3-5-billion-phone-numbers-surveillance-report/
Okay, but they leaked my whole phone number, WhatsApp isn't my main focus now, I think I'll gonna have to switch phone number companies.
(btw I can't abandon whatsapp, my relatives are ignorant ogres who wont download even signal)
I wasn't suggesting they leaked only partial phone numbers?
Doesn't matter what phone company you have, Whatsapp already has your phone number and they allow anyone to scrape it.
But really there's so many different ways they can get your #. No way to stop that realistically. I change my phone # every year or so.
But as I said, it isn't only WhatsApp, my phone operator also happened to have a data leak and keep quiet about it.
My point is changing providers is a fruitless endeavour. Your phone number is probably sourced and sold several times/day. Switch carriers and they'll do the same thing. Why? Because no one will stop them, and most people don't know or even care, so why wouldn't they? And your phone number is already out there anyway, there's no taking it back.
Sooo, nothing we can do about it?
Yes and no. You can try and go without a phone number but I've found that to be literally impossible. Or you can change your phone # periodically, that's what I do.
FWIW, scientists recently got all WhatsApp numbers. That could also have been done by anyone else. Don't know if that has been fixed by now.
(now what does fwiw mean?)
Filled with icky worms.
~Or~ ~"for~ ~what~ ~it's~ ~worth",~ ~but~ ~I~ ~like~ ~mine~ ~better.~
Filled with icky worms. Because it's bad news.
What can I do to avoid getting my phone number "less breacheable"?
Don't have a telephone number. Even if you never list it anywhere, a simple "brute force" attack (I.e. simply trying all possible combinations) will still work.
Apart from that, don't share your phone numbers, which would basically make the number useless.
There is no longer a good way to keep a phone number really private.
I guess this ain't really a option, Signal and some services (e. g: getting mobile data to use when you're wifiless) kinda need a phone number.
A google voice number filters out spammers very well, and I hand it out to all the dipshits who ask for my phone number. Set it on mute so they can’t even call you. Use the number to poison data as well.
Only people I care about get my real number.
You really recomending Google services on a privacy thread?