India Faces Largest Data Breach: Personal Information of 815 Million Individuals Compromised

In a staggering incident, data from more than 81.5 crore (815 million) Indians has reportedly been leaked, making it one of the most significant data breaches in the country's history. The breach is believed to have originated from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and was discovered by Resecurity, an American cybersecurity and intelligence agency.

The data leak came to light when a 'threat actor' using the pseudonym 'pwn001' shared the information on Breach Forums, described as a prominent "Databreach discussion and leaks forum." The breach provided access to personal records of over 815 million Indian citizens.

To put this into perspective, this number is approximately ten times the total population of countries like Iran, Turkey, and Germany, which are the 17th, 18th, and 19th most populous nations globally, respectively. India, being the world's most populous country with 1.43 billion people, is now grappling with the enormity of the data breach.

The compromised information includes Aadhaar and passport details, as well as names, phone numbers, and addresses. The hacker, 'pwn001,' claims that this data was extracted from the Covid-19 test records of individuals registered with ICMR. As proof, the hacker posted spreadsheets containing segments of Aadhaar data, which were later verified as valid Aadhaar card IDs.

While neither ICMR nor the government has issued an official response yet, reports suggest that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is expected to launch an investigation into the matter once it receives a complaint from ICMR. Various agencies, ministries, and top officials have also been alerted, and a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) has been enacted to mitigate the damage from this massive data breach.