The personal data and copies of documents of more than 4000 adult industry actors became accessible to strangers amid a data leak from an international porn company, cybersecurity research team vpnMentor has revealed. Its researchers have alerted the XXX network Pussycash.com, whose US-based Amazon server turned out to have unprotected files, the Australian outlet 9 News reported.
It cites Noam Rotem and Ran Locar, saying that at least 875,000 files on the network of porn sites, including webcam service ImLive with 66 million users, were exposed. Among them, there are videos and photographs, including screenshots of chats, as well as model biographies with the most personal details, such as age, height, scars and tattoos, and copies of identity papers: passports, credit cards and even a US military identification card.
Pussycash.com, which lists Pornhub and BeNaughty as its partners, stated that it closed the documents from the public after the cybersecurity specialist notified them. The network insisted that "no information was leaked, except from vpnMentor."
"Privacy and the protection of user data is a top priority and concern for us. For this reason, we acted promptly and removed public access to the open folder as soon as vpnMentor alerted us to this fact," the company said.
They pointed out that the data of their performers or users were not exposed as the folder in question dated back to 2013 and contained the information of actors who took part in their ads.
"Other risks to be considered are people impersonating these (actors) to scam others, blackmail and extortion, stalking, job loss and professional embarrassment… Whether you work in the porn industry or not, we recommend to never send out unredacted scans or pictures of your passports, credit cards and any documents with your personal information," vpnMentor researcher Lisa Taylor warned.
