Sensitive information of 81.5 Cr Indians surfaces on dark web

New Delhi: Sensitive information pertaining to 81.5 crore Indians has been discovered on the dark web, marking what could be the largest data leak scandal in Indian history, as reported by Indian media.

The breach was brought to light when a hacker, suspected to have sourced the data from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) related to COVID-19 testing, posted the stolen information on the dark web.

The exposed data encompasses passport and UID card details, along with the names, phone numbers, and residential addresses of millions of Indian citizens.

The hacker claims that this data was acquired from ICMR's records collected during the course of COVID-19 testing.

The initial discovery of this data breach was reportedly made by the US-based agency Re-Security, which specializes in cybersecurity and intelligence.

Security experts uncovered over 100,000 files containing personal information of Indian citizens within the leaked data.

Reports have indicated that government agencies have been inundated with COVID-19 test-related data, making it challenging to pinpoint the exact source of the data leak.