A hacker claims to have stolen the data of 1 billion Chinese , allegedly from the Shanghai police database.
According to Engadget , the hacker is currently trying to sell 23 terabytes of data on 1 billion Chinese citizens for 10 Bitcoins , which is more than $200,000 at this point. The data collected includes name, address, place of birth, country ID and phone number.
Wall Street Journal said the hackers provided a sample of the victim’s data, including criminal charges dating back to 1995. Reporters confirmed the legitimacy of some of the data by calling people whose phone number is listed.
It remains unclear how the hacker got into the police database. One hint said it was possible that the hacker gained access through Alibaba’s cloud computing company Aliyun, which is said to have hosted the database. Alibaba said it was investigating the matter.
The true extent of the leak is still unknown, but security experts call it the largest cybersecurity breach in Chinese history.