In what is deemed India’s most extensive data breach, cybersecurity firm Re-security HUNTER revealed that the personal information of 81.5 crore citizens is for sale on the dark web. The data, including Aadhaar and Passport records, poses a severe risk of digital identity theft, with cybercriminals potentially exploiting stolen credentials for financially motivated scams. The ‘bad actor’ behind the breach claimed the data originated from a government system, possibly linked to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). The ICMR had faced numerous cyber-attacks since February, urging remedial actions.

Re-security HUNTER’s blog post on October 15 exposed the offer of 815 million Indian citizen records for $80,000 on Breach Forums. The threat actor, ‘pwn0001,’ alleged the data came from COVID-19 test records. Despite ICMR’s awareness of cyber threats, no response was received from the ICMR DG as of October 28. Foreign actors’ potential involvement raised concerns, prompting officials to address the situation.

The dataset offered by pwn0001 included sensitive personally identifiable information (PII) such as names, phone numbers, passport and Aadhaar numbers, ages, genders, addresses, and more. The breach triggered investigations, and remedial actions are underway with a Standard Operating Procedure (SoP) implemented to mitigate damage. The data source remains undisclosed, leaving room for speculation on the breach’s cause.

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