A massive dataset containing over 4 billion user records has been discovered unsecured online by researchers, sparking concerns about a potential surveillance effort targeting Chinese citizens. The leak, dubbed the “largest breach ever,” includes personal information such as full names, dates of birth, and phone numbers, as well as financial data like card numbers and spending habits.
Researchers at Cybernews worked with SecurityDiscovery.com to uncover the exposed records, which were stored on a server without a password. The dataset is believed to have been designed to build comprehensive behavioral, economic, and social profiles of nearly any Chinese citizen.
The collection includes 805 million records from WeChat, a Chinese alternative to WhatsApp, making it one of the largest data breaches in history.
Experts warn that this breach could be part of a surveillance project, with potential threats including social engineering attacks, identity theft, fraud, or blackmail. The information was taken down quickly after discovery, but its existence raises serious concerns about data security and privacy.
The dataset’s sheer volume and diversity suggest it was likely a centralized aggregation point for surveillance, profiling, or data enrichment purposes. With over 1 billion records potentially available, this breach exceeds the National Public Data breach, which was recently reported as one of the largest breaches ever.
Source: https://www.techradar.com/pro/security/over-4-billion-user-records-leaked-in-largest-breach-ever-heres-what-you-need-to-know