Published 15:54 IST, January 12th 2021
US Capitol siege: Hacker reveals massive data leak on social networking app Parler
The rioters, who stormed the Capitol Hill building on January 6, may have unknowingly shared their GPS coordinates while posting videos on Parler.
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The rioters, who stormed the Capitol Hill building on January 6, may have unknowingly shared their GPS coordinates while posting videos on social networking platform Parler, which is mostly used by far-right supporters. An ethical hacker from Austria recently took to Twitter to share "unprocessed raw files" as uploaded to Parler with all metadata, showing information such as megapixels, average bitrate, GPS latitude and longitude of suspected insurrectionists who may have been involved in the January 6 Capitol Hill unrest.
I am now crawling URLs of all videos uploaded to Parler. Sequentially from latest to oldest. VIDXXX.txt files coming up, 50k chunks, there will be 1.1M URLs total: https://t.co/YUl8CtoeEA
— crash override (@donk_enby) January 10, 2021
This may include things from deleted/private posts.
The crawl is now complete. 1098552 video URLs
— crash override (@donk_enby) January 10, 2021
These are the original, unprocessed, raw files as uploaded to Parler with all associated metadata.
— crash override (@donk_enby) January 10, 2021
metadata such as https://t.co/f5y6AzZ3km pic.twitter.com/95cXeCbZo6
— crash override (@donk_enby) January 10, 2021
The data could be used in identifying the rioters who may have been involved in breaching of security at the US Congress building. According to The Independent, the hacker was previously involved in helping academic researchers move and store Parler data to another source so it can be further analysed for research purposes.
Parler faces backlash
Parler has faced a lot of backlash since January 6 riot as it is believed the platform was widely used by rioters to coordinate during the unrest, who also shared real-time pictures and videos from the site of the insurrection. Amazon suspended Parler from its web hosting service, accusing the platform of not taking any measure to prevent the spread of content that helped incite the violence. Apple and Google have also removed Parler from their respective app stores.
A riotous mob laid siege on the US Congress building last Wednesday while a joint session to certify President-elect Joe Biden's victory was underway. The mob, carrying flags in support of Donald Trump, infiltrated the building moments after the president addressed a crowd outside Capitol Hill. Five people, including a Capitol police officer, died during the storming of the building, which has since sparked calls for Trump's resignation.
(Image Credit: AP)
15:56 IST, January 12th 2021