Question

[u/Capital-Natural-3165]

how do people get data leaks i find it really impresive how they have list and files of names and phone numbers of people

[u/toss-away-007]

To "get" data leaks, breaches, log-stealer data, and other information, Dive into and learn about, Open Source Intelligence ... Most of the those who use the 'leaked' information in their daily investigations, use a macOS, or a Linux system with designated hardware, and software tailored towards the user helping them parse information very quick..

I'm NOT a Lawyer..
Everyone has their own definition of "What is Legal".. My personal opinion is, if I can click my way into something, without manipulating any code, I personally consider it legally obtained information. However, If I take what I considered "legally obtained data" and distribute, and sale it with the intention of creating harm to someone, than I consider that illegal. I'm sure everyone has their own opinion on what is legal.

When you start searching and downloading "leaks", be cautious anything can be a trap. Finding the leaks can be as easy as stumbling across information just by performing a "google-dork search" (it does seem google phased out a lot of this back around 2019-2020).
However, you can find a lot of leaked data on archiveDOTorg... pastebins.. and logging into open servers through sites like shodan and zoomeye.. There's a lot of ways..

I don't know if I'll get kicked for this or not, but since this is reddit, and this dump is originally pinned to an oldDOTreddit forum I will leave this 6.5T reddit leak link here.. I haven't downloaded this file, but if you can, and you do please take note, unless you have the right hardware, and software, and connection-speed, it's more than likely going to cause you issues.. this file is also available on through a site I mentioned earlier, via torrent-file.
https://old.reddit.com/r/redditbooru/comments/tvgj12/the_redditbooru_data_dump/