Massive Data Leak: Personal Details Of 81.5 Crore Indians Exposed In Alleged ICMR Breach - Report

In what is being described as possibly the 'biggest' data leak in the country, the personal information of more than 81.5 crore Indians has been allegedly exposed, with the data purportedly sourced from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), as per a report by Hindustan Times.

The leak was initially discovered by Resecurity, an American cybersecurity and intelligence agency.

According to Resecurity, a 'threat actor' operating under the alias 'pwn001' posted a thread on Breach Forums, a self-described 'premier Databreach discussion and leaks forum,' providing access to records of 815 million (81.5 crore) Indians.

To put this into perspective, this is approximately ten times the population of countries like Iran, Turkey, and Germany, which are the 17th, 18th, and 19th most populous nations globally.

India, the world's most populous country, boasts a population of 1.43 billion people.

The leaked information includes Aadhaar and passport details, names, phone numbers, and addresses.

'pwn001' claims that this data was extracted from the Covid-19 test records of citizens registered with ICMR.

As evidence, 'pwn001' posted spreadsheets containing fragments of Aadhaar data, which were subsequently confirmed as valid Aadhaar card IDs.

While there has been no official response from ICMR or the government thus far, the report suggests that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is likely to initiate an investigation once a formal complaint is lodged by ICMR.

Furthermore, high-ranking officials from various agencies and ministries have been mobilised to address the issue, and a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) has been put into action to manage the fallout from this massive data breach.