New Delhi, NFAPost: Online platform haveibeenpwned.com has retracted its data breach claim related to Paytm Mall. The creator of the platform, Troy Hunt, tweeted saying that data circulating has no connection to Paytm and the breach seems “fabricated”.
“An update on this breach: after loading it into @haveibeenpwned, the head of @paytm’s infosec team reached out and we had a chat about the authenticity of the data, which they believe didn’t originate from them. We now collectively believe it’s fabricated,” Troy Hunt said.
“I sent them the data that was circulating, they reviewed and drew a number of important conclusions, the first of which is the most significant: there’s a lot of data there they simply never collect,” he added in the Twitter thread.
An update on this breach: after loading it into @haveibeenpwned, the head of @paytm'm infosec team reached out and we had a chat about the authenticity of the data, which they believe didn't originate from them. We now collectively believe it's fabricated, here's why:
— Troy Hunt (@troyhunt) July 29, 2022
This breach has subsequently been flagged as "fabricated". More here: https://t.co/LFNhlmJHgO
— Have I Been Pwned (@haveibeenpwned) July 29, 2022
Paytm Mall had earlier rejected the claim on Wednesday and issued a statement the data of users is completely safe and claims related to data leak in the year 2020 are completely false and unsubstantiated.
“A fake dump uploaded on the platform haveibeenpwned.com appears to wrongly alert of a data breach on Firefox. We are in touch with Firefox and the platform to resolve the matter,” said Paytm Mall.
The online platform’s recent claims were attributed to an alleged data leak in August 2020 involving Paytm Mall, which was flagged by US-based cyber-research firm Cyble. However, Paytm Mall had conducted a thorough internal investigation and an external audit, which showed that the claim was “absolutely false”. In fact, the hacker group held responsible for the breach had also denied the claim.
A Paytm Mall spokesperson said the online platform that flagged a data breach of the systems reviewed it and have responsibly retracted its claim.
“This validates our earlier statement, where we stated that the data breach had no connection with us after conducting thorough investigations. We would like to reassure our users that their data is absolutely safe and protecting their information remains our topmost priority,” states Paytm Mall spokesperson.
