Friend.tech denies report that database of over 100K users was leaked

The workforce behind the viral decentralized social media platform Friend.tech has refuted a report that claimed that the non-public data of greater than 100,000 of its users was “leaked.” 

The now-amended report, first posted by The Block, recommended that information posted by Banteg, a pseudonymous developer for Yearn Finance, was “leaked” data.

The Friend.tech workforce, nonetheless, clarified that the knowledge got here from scraping its public API.

“It’s like saying somebody hacked you by taking a look at your public Twitter feed,” the official Friend.tech account argued.

That is simply somebody scraping our public API that reveals the affiliation between public pockets addresses and public Twitter usernames.

It’s like saying somebody hacked you by taking a look at your public Twitter feed.

Irresponsible reporting from @TheBlock_ and @vishal4c https://t.co/GIXOWazqBk

— good friend.tech (@friendtech) August 21, 2023

The put up additionally acquired enter from X’s (previously generally known as Twitter) Group Notes contributors.

“The underlying information is public and anyone can work it out studying a block explorer: for those who purchase a share, 5% goes to the creator’s pockets and he could have wanted to fund his pockets. The database solely scraps that public data,” the neighborhood notice reads

Banteg initially revealed a repository of the publicly accessible scraped information, containing particulars of users on the Friend.tech platform on GitHub.

101,183 individuals has given good friend tech entry to posting as them, leaked db signifieshttps://t.co/yYYDqzUoON

— banteg (@bantg) August 21, 2023

This information included pockets addresses on Base, linked to the corresponding Twitter usernames for greater than 101,000 users.

“101,183 individuals have given good friend.tech entry to put up as them, leaked db (database) signifies,” Banteg wrote.

Banteg additionally gave criticism to the incorrect interpretation of their preliminary put up.

In the meantime, X users additionally joined in to poke enjoyable on the scenario, with one consumer, Satsdart, posting a hyperlink to the Ethereum block explorer, humorously claiming that he had found “a leaked database displaying ALL transactions on eth.”

i simply discovered a leaked database displaying ALL transactions on eth look guys https://t.co/4rrC6sBYJM

— satsdart (@satsdart) August 21, 2023

Notably, Banteg’s launch of the information adopted a put up from blockchain analytics service Spot On Chain which discovered that Friend.tech’s API revealed particular units of data not instantly accessible to on a regular basis users of the app.

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2. The API of @friendtech additionally leaks the knowledge

You’ll be able to verify the pockets generated by FriendTech by this API:https://t.co/uqb7V0FxLi

Simply substitute “0x317931c6b64f6058f688c7d62e84e1491a319dff” with the handle you see on the contract. pic.twitter.com/mGrRax4Jd6

— Spot On Chain (@spotonchain) August 21, 2023

Essentially the most outstanding instance was that wallets created by sure users could be seen by means of the API.

When requested how this data could possibly be used, Spot On Chain stated it could possibly be used to recreation the system by permitting bots to near-immediately buy shares of massive accounts as quickly as they signed as much as Friend.tech.

“Quite a bit of bots have already taken benefit of this, it displays the contract, finds the massive KOL, and buys shares earlier than others,” wrote Spot On Chain.

Since its beta launch on Aug. 11, Friend.tech has seen its users engage in over 934,000 distinctive transactions and commerce a staggering quantity of 34,320 Ether (ETH) — $57,101,116 at present costs.

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