Source: imageBROKER.com GmbH & Co. KG via Alamy Stock Photo

On Nov. 17, hackers that go by the aliases IntelBroker and EnergyWeaponUser claimed to have breached Ford customer records, laying out their "success" in a post on BreachForums.

The hackers claimed that they had stolen 44,000 Ford customer records that included names, physical addresses, and acquisition information. In truth, after making the data sample public, it was found that the data only included physical addresses of car dealers from around the world, data that is likely already public and not considered sensitive.

The initial claims, however, prompted an investigation by Ford, which determined that there was no breach of its systems or compromised customer data involved. The leaked information actually originated from a third-party supplier, according to the automotive giant.

This isn't the first time IntelBroker has pulled a stunt such as this; though its victims do suffer from some type of breach, the hacker's claims of its attacks' magnitude are often exaggerated. Nonetheless, it's important to carefully vet any hacker claims, according to Roger Grimes, data-driven defense evangelist at KnowBe4.

"Any stolen confidential information, like purchasing habits, is something that can be used in a targeted spear phishing attack to trick more potential victims,” he wrote in an emailed statement to Dark Reading. "So, you can't completely discount any data breach no matter how innocuous it first seems."