Millions of Discord users face a major privacy breach as private messages are being sold on the clear web website Spy.pet. The internet-scraping company has been collecting data from Discord since November 2023 and has already sold four billion public messages from 14,201 servers, affecting over 627 million users.
The method used, known as scraping, exploits weaknesses in bots or unofficial apps’ access to extract information from the platform. This exposes private chats, server chats, and direct messages, potentially compromising users’ personal information, photos, videos, financial details, and company secrets.
Spy.pet operates as a chat-harvesting platform, offering user data through profiles containing aliases, pronouns, connected accounts, Discord servers, and public messages. Payments are only accepted in cryptocurrency, with each credit costing $0.01. Despite facing DDoS attacks in February 2024, the platform continues to operate.
To protect themselves, Discord users should review their privacy settings, limit application access to their data, change passwords, enable two-factor authentication, and avoid sharing personal or sensitive information in chats. Discord is investigating Spy.pet and vows to take action against violations of its Terms of Service and Community Guidelines.
It’s crucial for users to remain vigilant and report any suspected compromises to Discord immediately to safeguard their privacy and security.