Executive Summary
In June 2024, SoundCloud suffered a major data breach compromising the personal and contact information of approximately 29.8 million user accounts. Attackers infiltrated the audio streaming platform's systems and exfiltrated sensitive customer records, including names, email addresses, and other profile data, which were subsequently advertised on cybercriminal forums. Initial investigations suggest the threat actors exploited a weakness in SoundCloud’s platform, though details on the exact attack vector remain under investigation. The breach not only poses reputational risks but could also lead to targeted phishing and identity theft for impacted users.
This incident underscores the growing trend of large-scale credential and data theft affecting prominent digital platforms globally. Organizations are facing mounting pressure from regulators and customers to bolster cloud security, enforce rigorous access controls, and demonstrate proactive incident response capabilities in line with privacy frameworks.
Why This Matters Now
With attackers increasingly targeting cloud-based consumer platforms, the SoundCloud breach highlights urgent gaps in data segmentation, identity management, and monitoring. The vast scope and exposure place millions at risk for cyber-attacks and intensify industry-wide calls for improved zero trust strategies and compliance adherence.
Attack Path Analysis
Attackers gained initial access to SoundCloud's environment, likely via exploitation of a software or configuration vulnerability. They escalated privileges to obtain access to sensitive user data stores. The adversaries moved laterally within the cloud environment to locate and aggregate the desired data. They established command and control for persistent access and coordination, and subsequently exfiltrated nearly 30 million user records—potentially leveraging encrypted or covert channels. The ultimate impact resulted in the exposure and theft of personal and contact information for millions of accounts.
Kill Chain Progression
Initial Compromise
Description
Attackers exploited a misconfiguration, vulnerability, or compromised credentials to gain a foothold in the cloud environment.
Related CVEs
CVE-2024-57062
CVSS 7.2A privilege escalation vulnerability in the SoundCloud iOS application v7.65.2 allows a local attacker to obtain sensitive information via the session handling component.
Affected Products:
SoundCloud Inc. SoundCloud iOS Application – 7.65.2
Exploit Status:
no public exploitCVE-2025-30542
CVSS 4.3A Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in the SoundCloud Ultimate plugin for WordPress allows unauthorized users to perform malicious actions on a victim's account through specially crafted requests.
Affected Products:
wpsolutions SoundCloud Ultimate – 1.0, 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5
Exploit Status:
no public exploitCVE-2023-34018
CVSS 6.1A Stored Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability in the SoundCloud Shortcode plugin allows attackers to inject arbitrary web script or HTML via the plugin's parameters.
Affected Products:
SoundCloud Inc. SoundCloud Shortcode – 3.1.0
Exploit Status:
no public exploit
MITRE ATT&CK® Techniques
Exploit Public-Facing Application
Valid Accounts
Phishing
Data from Local System
Automated Exfiltration
Transfer Data to Cloud Account
Modify Authentication Process
Potential Compliance Exposure
Mapping incident impact across multiple compliance frameworks.
PCI DSS 4.0 – User identification and authentication
Control ID: 8.2.1
NYDFS 23 NYCRR 500 – Cybersecurity Policy
Control ID: 500.03
DORA (Digital Operational Resilience Act) – ICT Risk Management
Control ID: Art. 9
CISA Zero Trust Maturity Model 2.0 – Identity, Credential, and Access Management
Control ID: Identity Pillar-Basic
NIS2 Directive – Cybersecurity Risk Management Measures
Control ID: Article 21
GDPR – Security of Processing
Control ID: Article 32
Sector Implications
Industry-specific impact of the vulnerabilities, including operational, regulatory, and cloud security risks.
Entertainment/Movie Production
Audio streaming platforms face data breach risks exposing 29.8 million user accounts, requiring enhanced egress security and zero trust segmentation for content distribution.
Media Production
Creative platforms vulnerable to large-scale data breaches compromising user credentials, demanding multicloud visibility and encrypted traffic protection for digital content workflows.
Information Technology/IT
Streaming service breaches highlight need for threat detection capabilities and kubernetes security to protect user data across cloud-native entertainment platforms.
Internet
Online platforms storing personal information face exfiltration risks requiring cloud firewall protection and anomaly detection to prevent unauthorized data access attempts.
Sources
- Have I Been Pwned: SoundCloud data breach impacts 29.8 million accountshttps://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/have-i-been-pwned-soundcloud-data-breach-impacts-298-million-accounts/Verified
- SoundCloud confirms data breach - user info stolen, here's what you need to knowhttps://www.techradar.com/pro/security/soundcloud-confirms-data-breach-user-info-stolen-heres-what-you-need-to-knowVerified
- SoundCloud discloses breach affecting millions, warns users about phishing attemptshttps://cybernews.com/security/soundcloud-data-breach-affects-fifth-of-users/Verified
- SoundCloud breach added to HIBP, 29.8 million accounts exposedhttps://cyberinsider.com/soundcloud-breach-added-to-hibp-29-8-million-accounts-exposed/Verified
Frequently Asked Questions
Cloud Native Security Fabric Mitigations and ControlsCNSF
Applying Zero Trust Segmentation, egress policy enforcement, east-west traffic controls, and cloud-native encryption would have contained risk at each phase—preventing lateral movement, blocking unauthorized exfiltration, and minimizing breach scope. Centralized visibility and granular workload controls are critical against large-scale data breaches in cloud environments.
Control: Cloud Native Security Fabric (CNSF)
Mitigation: Inline policy enforcement reduces unauthorized access paths.
Control: Zero Trust Segmentation
Mitigation: Microsegmentation limits movement and privilege escalation scope.
Control: East-West Traffic Security
Mitigation: Inter-workload and inter-region movement is monitored and restricted.
Control: Multicloud Visibility & Control
Mitigation: C2 traffic anomalies are rapidly detected and correlated.
Control: Egress Security & Policy Enforcement
Mitigation: Unauthorized data exports are blocked or flagged.
Data at risk is protected in transit, limiting exposure in transit-based breaches.
Impact at a Glance
Affected Business Functions
- User Account Management
- Customer Support
Estimated downtime: 2 days
Estimated loss: $500,000
Email addresses and publicly visible profile information of approximately 29.8 million users were exposed.
Recommended Actions
Key Takeaways & Next Steps
- • Enforce Zero Trust Segmentation to restrict lateral movement and minimize the impact of initial breaches.
- • Apply granular egress filtering and outbound policy controls to detect and prevent unauthorized data exfiltration.
- • Deploy cloud-native encryption for all data in transit to mitigate packet sniffing and interception threats.
- • Increase multicloud visibility and anomaly detection to rapidly surface and respond to suspicious behaviors.
- • Align cloud policies and controls with industry-standard frameworks such as NIST, PCI, and ZTMM to ensure comprehensive protection and continuous compliance.
