Fake Z-Library Site Exposes Data of Nearly 10 Million Users

A clone of the most popular e-book website of all time has exposed user data including email addresses, passwords, and even bitcoin wallet addresses.

If you are an e-book user, you have likely heard of the ultra popular Z-Library website which is a “file-sharing” platform or torrenting source that users can download online books and articles from.

In June of 2024, researchers from cybernews.com discovered a database of nearly 10 million users data which included sensitive information.

It was determined that this data came from a clone of the popular Z-Library website called Z-Lib which is a malicious/phishing site that mimics Z-library to collect user credentials and even payments.

Currently, Z-Lib appears at the top of the list when you search Google for Z-Library which is why many are fooled into believing that this is the official website.

In the past few years, Z-Library has been under legal scrutiny with various site blocking measures and domain seizures. The owners/operators were even arrested in Argentina in November 2022 for copyright infringement, wire fraud, and money laundering.

However, even with a record number of domain seizures, the website still exists today as numerous mirror websites continue to pop up to replace the original one.

These mirrors/proxies allow for bad actors to take advantage of site users and this is the case for Z-Lib which also has multiple domains and millions of monthly visitors.

In a telegram post, Z-Library reminded users to be cautious when attempting to find Z-Library and noted some of these false websites that should be avoided.

Unfortunately, this warning did not stop millions of potential customers from unknowingly accessing and signing up for an account on Z-Lib.

The site then sent spam emails to customers with malicious links that ultimately compromised user privacy and security. A cybernews researcher noted:

We discovered that a web server had a directory listing enabled. That means any user can see a list of all files and directories stored on the server. Among other hosted files, there was also a database backup, storing the personal information for millions of users…

A simple misconfiguration exposed millions of user’s emails, usernames, and passwords together with their crypto wallet addresses for Bitcoin and Monero.

After communicating with a user whose information was leaked, cybernews was able to gain access to their inbox and found such emails with malicious links attached to them.

The individual had created an account on this fake page and could recognize their information in the leaked database. With their permission, we were able to scan the email inbox, and confirm that the Z-library copycat was sending spam with malicious links

Researchers also went on to note that those exposed can anticipate their data to be used by cybercriminals and potentially even scooped up by authorities:

Law enforcement and copyright holders may use the leaked data to take legal action against the website’s users

Those of us who use torrent sites, file sharing sites, or other “unverified” websites should take caution when accessing these platforms. This is why we always suggest registering for unverified services with an anonymous email address while connected to a trustworthy VPN.

This article was originally published by cybernews.com.

What do you think of the massive data exposure for users attempting to access online books and articles? Let us know in the comment section!

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