Data leak of over 2.5 million application users. Do you use Duolingo? Beware of suspicious e-mails

Duolingo is the world’s most popular learning app, which is used by as many as 74 million users. It is the popularity of this tool that has put it in the sights of cybercriminals, who found a vulnerability in the application.

It turned out that with API (application programming interface) Duolingo And more precisely, 2.6 million e-mail addresses. The database obtained in this way at the beginning of 2023 found its way to one of the popular hacking internet forums. It was initially put up for sale for $1,500. Interest, however, was rather low, because the announcement has just returned to the forum – and this time the database with addresses of Duolingo users can be purchased for only … $ 2.13.

Fortunately, the data leak from Duolingo concerns “only” email addresses, not passwords or – even worse – payment card details. However, it can be inconvenient for users. Cybercriminals can use the obtained address, for example, to conduct a phishing campaign.

Hackers have stolen the addresses of millions of users. Watch out for suspicious emails

Caution and common sense are the best weapons in the fight against online threats. Whenever you receive a suspicious e-mail in your inbox, ask yourself five simple questions:

• Do you know the sender of the message?
• Have you received other messages from this sender before?
• Did you expect to receive this message?
• Do the email title and attachment name make sense?
• Does the message contain malware?

If the answer to any of the above questions is “NO”, then do not open the e-mail or its attachments and do not reply to the sender. Also remember that banks, companies offering online payment services, as well as social networking sites never send messages to customers asking them to provide login passwords or other sensitive data.

If you’ve received such an email, it’s probably from a scammer.