A mystery hacker has claimed to have stolen a massive batch of data containing sensitive information on roughly a billion Chinese citizens, with cyber experts warning that it is the biggest in history. The anonymous hacker is selling several databases they claim to contain more than 22 terabytes of stolen information of almost one billion Chinese citizens for 10 BTC Bitcoins. This information was leaked from the Shanghai National Police (SHGA) database.
Based on the information they shared the databases contains Chinese national residents’ names, addresses, national ID numbers, contact info numbers, and several billion criminal records. The hacker confirmed the data was exfiltrated from a local private cloud provided by Aliyun (Alibaba Cloud) and part of the Chinese police network (public security network).
The hacker with pseudonym “ChinaDan” shared a sample with 750,000 records containing all private info, ID information, and police call records. These records would allow interested buyers to verify that the data for sale is not fake. The data hack reveals thousands of photos from China’s Uyghur Concentration Camps and further documentation of the Chinese Communist Party’s horrific human rights abuses, also the files include photographic evidence of mass detention and abuse, including of very young children from the oppressed Uyghur (Turkish origin) Muslim minority, which is just a tiny fraction of the estimated 1 to 3 million detainees in the Xinjiang camps.
China is already censoring information about the hack, Weibo (Chinese version of Twitter) and WeChat (Chinese version What’s up) were already censoring any mention of hashtags containing “data leak” or “database breach.” Censors blocked existing posts and even reportedly asked at least one poster with a big followers-base to come in for questioning.
Any Central-based data like governments that collect and store users personal data are under constant threat from hackers, because biometric data is irreplaceable, this scenario already proved that is devastating for millions of people.
Tracking and data collecting is another negative impact on humanity. Privacy of people must be taken into consideration, as human right. When biometrics are converted into data and stored, particularly in places or countries that have large surveillance measures, biometric data can become a permanent digital tag that can be used to track someone, with and without their knowledge. Demographic Bias can result in discrimination and exclusion to other races, here is an example from China. The western countries are heading with full speed to this dystopian laws and digitalization with one and only goal TOTAL CONTROL with the help of technologies.
