Far-right influencer Andrew Tate - known for his controversial views - has become the target of an anonymous hacktivist group, resulting in a significant data breach that compromised the private information of nearly 800,000 users of his online platform, "The Real World."
The breach was announced on Thursday when the group flooded the private chatrooms of the website with pro-feminist emojis and transgender pride flags, sending a clear message against Tate’s ideological stance. The hackers also uploaded a satirical AI-generated image of Tate, with exaggerated features, draped in a transgender pride flag.
According to reports by Daily Dot, Tate was streaming on the right-wing platform Rumble while his website's primary chatroom was overtaken.
Tate’s online university, which charges $49.99 per month for courses designed to teach subscribers how to make money through online marketing, e-commerce, and cryptocurrency trading, has a significant following. Despite facing legal troubles in Romania—where he is under house arrest while authorities investigate allegations of sex crimes, human trafficking, and money laundering—Tate's platform claims to have over 113,000 active subscribers, generating millions in revenue.
However, the hackers, describing their actions as an act of hacktivism, revealed the vulnerability of the site, claiming it was "hilariously insecure." The group gained access to "The Real World" platform, where they were able to upload emojis, delete attachments, crash clients, and temporarily ban users. Additionally, they stole sensitive data, including 794,000 usernames belonging to both current and former members of the site, as well as 324,382 email addresses of users who had either been removed from the platform or had failed to pay their subscription fees.
The breach also led to the hackers copying contents from 221 public and 395 private chat servers, further compromising the privacy of users’ communications. In response, Tate’s fans are being urged to check if their data was compromised by visiting "Have I Been Pwned," a website that tracks data breaches.
While this incident highlights the vulnerabilities of platforms associated with high-profile figures, it also brings to the forefront ongoing concerns regarding data security and privacy in the digital age. As investigations into the breach continue, Tate’s platform faces scrutiny not only from the hacking group but also from his millions of online followers.
