Aadhaar, passport data of 81.5 crore Indians put for sale on dark web: report

Data of 81.5 crore Indians leaked on Dark web

• The cybersecurity firm mentioned that a hacker using the alias 'pwn0001' shared details about the breach on Breach Forums on October 9th.
• The information provided by pwn0001's data set includes details like names, fathers' names, phone numbers, passport numbers, Aadhar numbers, ages, genders, addresses, districts, and pincodes.
• The US-based cybersecurity company stated that there were 815 million records available on the Dark web.

• The firm's HUNTER (HUMINT) team found millions of personal information records, such as Aadhaar cards, belonging to Indian residents being sold on the Dark Web.
• The team got in touch with the person behind the threat and found out that they were ready to sell the complete set of Aadhaar and Indian passport data for $80,000.
• Meanwhile, the Indian government hasn't officially confirmed the data breach yet.

Resecurity points out that when personal information like the Aadhaar data of Indian citizens ends up on the dark web, it poses a serious risk of digital identity theft. Bad actors use this stolen identity information to carry out online banking fraud, fraudulent tax refunds, and other financial crimes in the online world.

The cybersecurity firm mentioned that it noticed an increase in incidents related to Aadhaar IDs being shared on hidden cybercriminal forums by individuals who intend to harm people in India.

The firm's findings align with a worldwide threat scenario where India has become one of the top five regions for cyberattacks. A survey from a vendor recently reported that India ranked fourth in the world when it comes to detecting online banking malware, and it also stood in the top five globally for detecting all types of malware during the first half of 2023.