New Delhi: A major data breach has reportedly hit Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL).
Data of thousands of BSNL internet and landline users has been stolen and is being sold on the dark web by the hackers, The Economic Times reported.
A serious issue involving a hacker known as ‘Perell’ has been reported. The hacker has apparently obtained critical information about users of a telecom company’s services, specifically those using fibre and landline connections from BSNL in India.
The hacker has disclosed a portion of the stolen data on the dark web. It contains sensitive details like email addresses, billing information, contact numbers and other private data linked to BSNL’s fibre and landline users.
Additionally, information like mobile service outage records, network specifics, completed orders and customer information looks to have been compromised.
The data shared by the hacker is around 32,000 lines of information. However, ‘Perell’ claimed to have acquired around 2.9 million lines of data from all databases, including district-wise details of BSNL customers.
BSNL has not yet acknowledged the data breach, but Indian cybersecurity agency Cert-In has been informed about this hacking incident.
Kanishk Gaur, a cybersecurity expert and founder of India Future Foundation, expressed grave p concern and said it could have widespread implications for both BSNL and its users.
It not only jeopardises user privacy but exposes them to risks like identity theft, financial fraud and targeted phishing attempts, Gaur pointed out.
Immediate action from BSNL and relevant authorities is the need of the hour to mitigate risks and safeguard affected users against harm from the compromised data.
