Yet official agencies have remained noticeably silent this week even as the debate gained momentum online. A Bloomberg News analysis of a sample published by the alleged hackers reveals information from names, mobile numbers and addresses to education levels, ethnicity - even logs of express deliveries and information from police reports and criminal cases. “It is necessary to safeguard the country’s data security, protect personal information and business secrets, and promote the efficient circulation and use of data so as to empower the real economy,” Xi stressed in a meeting with a top government body less than two weeks ago, according to a readout from the official Xinhua News Agency.Ĭhina has pioneered new forms of near-constant surveillance and mass data collection on its citizens, a nationwide apparatus that has expanded as Beijing tries to track and prevent the spread of virus cases as part of its Covid Zero strategy. The Shanghai breach may become an embarrassment for Xi as he tries to secure a precedent-breaking third term as president later this year. Beijing is pouring money into digital infrastructure, rolling out new laws and building data centers to position China as a leader in the digital economy. Read more: Hackers Claim Theft of Police Info in China’s Largest Data LeakĬhinese President Xi Jinping has long identified data as key for governing and driving the country of 1.4 billion.
“It seems obvious to ask why Shanghai MPS needed access to all this data, but this is the exact system of surveillance and detail about individuals that the government wants.” “The PRC government is likely in crisis mode right now,” said Dakota Cary, a consultant with the Washington-based Krebs Stamos Group.
To researchers who have examined the underlying source code and database samples, the breadth of the purported data underscores not only the staggering scale of government data collection in the People’s Republic of China but also the numerous risks in how that information is managed. Many forensic experts agreed there were significant security lapses. A seller had asked for 10 Bitcoin, worth around $200,000, in exchange for the data.
Questions remain about how the unknown hackers apparently gained access to the trove run by the Ministry of Public Security’s Shanghai branch, which according to online posts included data detailing user activity from most popular Chinese apps, addresses, and phone numbers. The allegations that emerged over the weekend have set tech circles buzzing and prompted rare public comment from high-profile industry figures such as Binance co-founder Zhao Changpeng. If verified, the purported theft of 23 terabytes of personal information on as many as a billion Chinese citizens from a Shanghai police database would rank as the country’ largest ever known data breach, if not one of the biggest leaks the world has seen. (Bloomberg) - Claims of the largest cyberattack in Chinese history have sparked an open debate about the extent to which Beijing hoovers up personal data and uses private firms to safeguard that trove, a discussion that could have ramifications for the broader technology industry in China.