In a leak from a Shanghai police database, hackers claim to have gained a wealth of information on 1 billion Chinese. If verified, this would be one of the biggest data breaches in history.
Last week, a user going by the moniker “ChinaDan” posted a message on the online hacking site Breach Forums offering to sell roughly 24 terabytes of data, including what they claimed to be data on 1 billion persons and “several billion case records,” for 10 bitcoin, worth around $200,000.
The data allegedly contains names, residences, national identity numbers, mobile phone numbers, and case information from the database of the Shanghai National Police.
Names, birthdates, ages, and mobile numbers were included in a sample of data that a source obtained. The fact that one individual was identified as having been born in the year “2020” and having the age “1” suggests that the data breached contained information on children.
The Shanghai data breach first spurred a debate on Chinese social media sites like Weibo, but since then, censors have taken action to stop anyone from searching for that term online.
The most recent reported instance once again highlighted Beijing’s difficulties as it continues to tighten its control over sensitive internet material while gathering data on hundreds of millions of individuals. The disclosure of personal information is punishable by imprisonment in China.
It’s unknown how the suspected cyber attackers in this month’s incident got access to the systems belonging to the Shanghai police. Online among cybersecurity professionals, there was a prevailing view that the compromise included a third-party cloud infrastructure partner. Among the major foreign cloud services in the nation are Tencent Holdings Ltd., Huawei Technologies Co., and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.
Image Credits: iStock
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It’s kinda scary, with what they can do with that data
Seems like a well planned attack. Strengthening cyber security is very important. Well written!
Wow all crime details too. That’s scary.