Temu and SAP Refute Claims of Data Breach Made on Hacker Forums

Two major companies, SAP and Temu, have denied data breach allegations that surfaced on the notorious hacking forum, BreachForums, after threat actors posted sensitive information claiming to have been stolen from these firms. Both companies have responded swiftly to CyberInsider's request for comment, refuting the claims and asserting that their systems remain secure and uncompromised.

Allegations on BreachForums

On September 14, 2024, a user identified as “888” posted on BreachForums, claiming responsibility for leaking a database containing employee information from SAP, a global leader in enterprise software solutions. According to the post, the leak exposed over 2,600 rows of data, including names, job titles, email addresses, and other sensitive employee details. The leaked sample displayed data from high-level executives, including Chief Executive Officers and Senior Vice Presidents from regions spanning the United States, Europe, and Asia.

Separately, on September 16, 2024, another threat actor, “smokinthashit,” posted on BreachForums, offering to sell an 87-million-line dataset allegedly from the Temu e-commerce platform. The post indicated that the data, sourced from the domain “temu.com,” contained highly detailed customer information such as names, emails, locations, and other personal identifiers. The seller claimed that the data had never been sold before, and only one copy was available.

SAP's response

In reaction to the alleged leak, SAP, a company renowned for providing enterprise resource planning (ERP) and business management software to a vast range of clients worldwide, has strongly denied any breach of its systems. In a concise statement, the company declared, “We have no indication that any of our systems have been breached.”

Temu's response

Temu, a rapidly growing e-commerce platform known for offering discounted products, also dismissed the claims. Following an internal investigation, Temu's security team concluded that “the claims are categorically false; the data being circulated is not from our systems.” The company emphasized that none of the allegedly leaked data matches their transaction records.

Temu further stressed its commitment to user security, stating, “We take any attempt to tarnish our reputation or harm our users extremely seriously and reserve the right to pursue legal action against those responsible for spreading false information.”

Update 9/21 – CheckPoint Research discovered that the information the threat actor posted appears to originate from a data breach at foreup.com, dating back to mid-2021, serving as yet another proof the threat actor's allegations were false.

Impact of allegations

While BreachForums has long been a source of both legitimate and fake data leaks, these allegations can cause significant harm even if proven false. The public exposure of personal or corporate data — real or fabricated — often sparks fear, damages brand reputation, and leads to increased scrutiny.

Given the nature of both companies, with SAP supporting major enterprises and Temu serving millions of consumers, the stakes are high. Data breaches for such entities can disrupt operations, trigger regulatory investigations, and cause long-term financial and legal consequences. In this case, the hackers' allegations were refuted, and thus they're most likely attempts to scam other cybercriminals into buying fabricated datasets.

As a general practice, users should enable multi-factor authentication for all accounts, beware of phishing attempts, and use long and unique passwords on each platform.