AnimeGame, Plus GSM and others fall victim of data leaks.
06 February 2022BREACHAWARE HQ
A total of 33 breach events
were found and analysed resulting in 4,917,399 exposed accounts
containing a total of 22 different data types of personal datum
. The breaches found publicly and freely available included AnimeGame, Plus GSM, Silicon India, Hep2Go and Rajan Chakravarthy & Associates. Sign in to view the full
library of breach events which includes, where available, reference articles relating to
each breach.
Categories of Personal Data Discovered
Contact Data, Locational Data, Technical Data, Transactional Data, Financial Data, Usage Data, Socia-Demographic Data, Special Category.
Data Breach Analysis
The wide-ranging nature of these incidents, cutting across telecommunications, media platforms, health-focused portals, and consultancy services, underscores the ongoing vulnerability of digital ecosystems, especially in sectors with rapidly digitising infrastructures.A Closer Look at Affected Sectors
Although the total number of exposed accounts may seem moderate relative to headline-grabbing mega breaches, the diversity and specificity of the services impacted here provide valuable insight into current breach trends. This data slice reveals not only the breadth of digital vulnerability, but also how varied the implications can be depending on the type of service breached.Platforms like AnimeGame, often tied to anime-themed games or fan ecosystems, can house a surprisingly rich mix of data.
For threat actors, these kinds of breaches serve as useful entry points for social engineering, especially among younger users or tightly knit online fandoms. Attackers may use such breaches to scrape behavioural insights or run spear-phishing campaigns tailored to users’ hobbies and interests.
One of the most significant entities affected in this batch is Plus GSM, a recognisable name in mobile telecommunications, especially in regions like Central and Eastern Europe. While the specifics of the breach aren't detailed, exposure of telecom-related data often implies serious privacy risks.
Telecom data is often linked directly to identity verification systems. As such, breaches in this sector increase the risk of SIM swapping, phishing, and unauthorised access to services that rely on mobile-based 2FA (two-factor authentication).
Silicon India is a digital publication and community that spans business insights, technology news, and career resources. Users often register to access exclusive content, post resumes, or network.
In combination with other data leaks, such information can be exploited to create highly credible phishing campaigns targeting professionals or executives. It also contributes to the growing concern of identity graphing, where threat actors piece together fragments of leaked data across platforms to build detailed user profiles.
Hep2Go is a platform known for its use in the physical therapy space, offering exercise guides and clinical tools to healthcare professionals and patients. While it may not house full medical records, the presence of any health-related data, even anonymised, raises unique concerns.
Healthcare platforms, even tangential ones, may inadvertently expose:
- Patient or practitioner emails
- Rehab schedules or assigned exercise programs
- Clinic information
- Platform usage logs
Even small leaks in this sector are critical due to the sensitive nature of health-related data and the regulatory frameworks (such as HIPAA, GDPR, etc.) governing its protection. While Hep2Go operates more as an informational hub, the implications of its exposure reflect a trend of under-secured, specialised health platforms being targeted.
The inclusion of Rajan Chakravarthy & Associates, likely a regional consulting or legal firm, reflects a broader trend where smaller professional services firms are being targeted. For attackers, such breaches can offer access to high-value client data or sensitive project materials, which may then be used for blackmail, extortion, or resale on dark web markets.
Broader Patterns and Concerns
With 33 separate incidents contributing to this dataset, several patterns become evident:1. Widening Scope of Targets
Data breaches are no longer confined to major tech firms or financial institutions. Instead, smaller, sector-specific platforms, including health portals, media communities, and professional service providers, are increasingly targeted for the data they collect and the access they provide.
2. Data Type Diversity
This batch involved 22 distinct types of personal data, suggesting that many of these platforms store more than just usernames and passwords. Contact information, health-oriented insights, communication logs, and possibly subscription or billing information are all at risk.
3. Layered Exposure Risk
Even when individual breaches appear limited in scope, the cumulative exposure of individuals across platforms creates a serious risk. When one user is breached on a gaming platform, a professional site, and a healthcare tool, adversaries can correlate data to build robust identity profiles or launch multi-platform attacks.
4. Professional and Regional Services Underestimated
Entities like law firms, regional telecoms, or niche healthcare tools may not be on the radar of global security watchdogs, but they are becoming favoured targets due to their wealth of structured data and historically weaker cybersecurity controls.
User and Organisational Recommendations
For individuals and institutions affected or operating in similar environments, these developments warrant urgent attention:- Users should avoid reusing credentials across platforms, especially mixing personal and professional accounts.
- Organisations must adopt basic breach detection and data minimisation practices, particularly when handling PII or service data.
- All platforms should integrate two-factor authentication, even for non-financial services, to prevent unauthorised access.
- Data retention policies should be re-evaluated, with clear limits on storing user information long after inactivity.
Conclusion: Small Breaches, Big Consequences
While this data group may appear modest in volume at just under 5 million accounts, the real story lies in the diverse and often overlooked nature of the breached platforms. Anime communities, telecom providers, niche health services, and professional firms, all now part of the breach landscape.As attackers become more methodical and data more interconnected, any platform that collects personal information must consider itself a potential target. The message is clear: security can no longer be an afterthought, even, or especially, for the "small fish" in the digital sea.