India

Data Leak: COVID-19 Test Info Of 81.5Cr Citizens With ICMR Up For Sale?

By
OB Bureau

New Delhi: The details of 81.5 crore Indians with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) are on sale. This could be the result of multiple cyber-attack attempts that the council has been facing since February and was also aware of.

It is suspected to be the biggest data leak in the country so far, News18 reported adding that the ‘threat actor’ claimed the data — extracted from the COVID-19 test details of citizens was sourced from ICMR.

Given the grave nature of the incident, India’s premier agency Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is likely to probe the matter once ICMR files a complaint.

A ‘threat actor’ with a handle on X, formerly Twitter, has advertised the database in the breached forum on the dark web which involves records of 81.5 million Indian citizens — Aadhaar and passport information along with names, phone numbers and addresses, the report added.

According to the report, it has been learnt that CERT-In has informed ICMR about the breach and the verification of sample data, which is on sale, matches with the actual data of ICMR after which all agencies were roped in.

Remedial measures have been taken and the required SoP has been deployed to control the damage.

Sources confirmed to News18 that the epicentre of leakage has not been identified as parts of the COVID-19 test data go to the National Informatics Centre (NIC), ICMR and Ministry of Health.

According to American cyber security and intelligence agency Resecurity, which initially noticed the leak, a threat actor going by the alias ‘pwn0001’ posted a thread on Breach Forums on October 9, brokering access to 815 million “Indian Citizen Aadhaar & Passport” records. To put this victim group in perspective, India’s entire population is just over 1.486 billion people, the report added.

OB Bureau

Recent Posts

Tragic Accident In Baliyatra: +2 Student Dies after Accidentally Touching String Lights

Cuttack: A promising youthful life ended in Cuttack on Sunday as a sophomore was electrocuted…

November 18, 2024

‘Kantara: Chapter 1’ Release Date Announced; Check Here

Mumbai: Ever since ‘Kantara’ became a phenomenal hit in 2022, movie lovers have been yearning…

November 17, 2024

Sarpanch’s Husband & Samiti Member Attack Each Other, Admitted In Hospital In Odisha’s Nayagarh

Bhubaneswar: The husband of a sarpanch and a panchayat samiti member were critically injured as…

November 17, 2024

Air Quality In Delhi Turns ‘Severe+’; GRAP 4 Curbs To Be Implemented From Monday

New Delhi: Pollution in the national Capital is going from bad to worse. As Delhi’s air…

November 17, 2024

Odisha Govt To Come Up With New Policy On Road Construction

Bhubaneswar: In order to streamline the road construction works, the Odisha government is planning to…

November 17, 2024

Trailer Of ‘Pushpa 2 The Rule’ Gives Fans Goosebumps [Watch]

Patna: The trailer of ‘Pushpa 2: The Rule’, one of the year’s most anticipated films, is…

November 17, 2024

Trailer Launch Of ‘Pushpa: The Rise’: Stampede-Like Situation At Patna’s Gandhi Maidan

Patna: It was one of the most anticipated events in the Indian film industry -- the…

November 17, 2024

Elephant Census Begins For 2nd Time In Keonjhar Division Of Odisha

Bhubaneswar: With Odisha government taking a serious note of unnatural death of elephants, the Forest…

November 17, 2024