VK 2014-2018

In early 2024 a massive dataset containing information from the Russian social network VKontakte was released publicly. The data originated from a large scale scraping operation conducted between 2014 and 2018. This collection consists of approximately 250 thousand XML files containing information on over 200 million users. The breach includes personal details such as names, mobile phone numbers, residential addresses, and educational backgrounds. It also features profile specific data including user statuses, personal hobbies, religious views, and links to profile avatars. While the data was collected via parsing public or semi public profiles years ago, its consolidation and public release represent a significant privacy risk due to the scale of personal information exposed.