200 Million Chinese Resumes Leak In Huge Database Breach (thenextweb.com) 70
According to a report from HackenProof, a database containing resumes of over 200 million job seekers in China was exposed last month. "The leaked info included not just the name and working experience of people, but also their mobile phone number, email, marriage status, children, politics, height, weight, driver license, and literacy level as well," reports The Next Web. From the report: Bob Diachenko, Director of Cyber Risk Research at Hacken.io and bug bounty platform HackenProof, found an unprotected instance of MongoDB containing these resumes on December 28. Diachenko found the resumes in the open database search engines Shodan and BinaryEdge. The 854GB database didn't have any password protection and was open to anyone to read.
Diachenko wasn't able to identify who generated the database or who owned it, but a now-defunct GitHub code repository featured a code that used an identical data structure to the leaked database. The database contained scraped data from multiple Chinese classified websites like bj.58.com. However, in a blog post, the website's spokesperson denied the leak. Interestingly, the database was taken down as soon as Diachenko posted about the database on Twitter. Sadly, the MongoDB log showed at least a dozen IP addresses that read the instance before it went off the grid.
Diachenko wasn't able to identify who generated the database or who owned it, but a now-defunct GitHub code repository featured a code that used an identical data structure to the leaked database. The database contained scraped data from multiple Chinese classified websites like bj.58.com. However, in a blog post, the website's spokesperson denied the leak. Interestingly, the database was taken down as soon as Diachenko posted about the database on Twitter. Sadly, the MongoDB log showed at least a dozen IP addresses that read the instance before it went off the grid.
China seems to be a bit more thorough (Score:5, Interesting)
in what job seekers divulge compared to the US.
"marriage status, children, politics, height, weight, driver license" I wonder where their government social scores are tied into this?
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Commies be commies.
Re: China seems to be a bit more thorough (Score:1)
Communist party members have preference.
Are you new to communism???
Re: China seems to be a bit more thorough (Score:1)
I love communism so much I would give up all my earthly possessions to get a chance to become communist. And now maybe I should read up on communism lol
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You mean it wasn't 1 resume badly copied 200 million times?
Re:China seems to be a bit more thorough (Score:5, Interesting)
Resumes in China usually also include ethnicity and a photo of the applicant.
Job ads will often specify a gender and an age range. In some areas they will even specify a desired ethnicity, usually "Han only", although I have never seen that in a big city.
There are no restrictions on what you can ask in an interview. Age, marital status, number of children, do you have a boyfriend, etc, are all fair game.
This is not just a Chinese thing. This is the way it is in most countries outside North America and the EU.
Re:China seems to be a bit more thorough (Score:5, Informative)
Absolutely not here to comment on what you think of as the curious nature of ShanghaiBill's postings (or not), but as an American who's now in Germany, it was (and constantly is) quite a bit of a surprise as to exactly what is common & expected (nevermind allowed) when it comes to things like resume's, job interviews, and even housing/apartments... some of this crap is (or was) even required by law.
Pictures are 100% common & expected on resume's here & not some informal cell-phone photo - that would probably disqualify you from most skilled jobs. You need a decent, polished, professional type shot on there. I don't think age is *required* anymore, but your birthdate should be not to far below your full name on your resume (including maiden name, if applicable). Even if you wanted to leave it off, they will know right away based on the diplomas, cirtifications & other supporting material you need to attach. Martial Status & number of kids goes next (seriously), though it is optional. If you are just getting your carrier started & without a significant job history, you might also list what your parents did for a living. During the interview, I doubt there is much that would be considered an "illegal" question.
On the housing side, be prepared to be subjected to the whims of whoever is renting (or selling) to you. Ads that *specify* a specific age bracket are not at all uncommon. I don't think I see "no kids", but I definitely see things that effectively say "unsuitable for children". If you are a 20 or 30-something couple (with or without children), I wouldn't even bother inquiring about those places as well. You also meet & interview with the owner of the property in most cases (this is after the property manager or real-estate agent already filters you out).
America's anti-discrimination laws are a good thing, unfortunately they have not yet been adopted everywhere.
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There are no restrictions on what you can ask in an interview. Age, marital status, number of children, do you have a boyfriend, etc, are all fair game.
Are there restrictions on what you can lie about?
I'm 25, unmarried, no children, no boyfriend, no parents, no friends in fact. I can weigh however much you want me to weigh, be however tall you want me to be, and it would be the greatest honor to die by karoshi while in service of your company.
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You're imagining things (Score:2, Insightful)
> Ah, yes, the good old Western supremacist view. Looking down on other cultures while celebrating your oh-so-superior one
That idea came from you, not from any of the posts up thread from here. I just want to point that out, you'll have to discuss your inferiority complex with your psychologist.
> Hey, quick quiz, who invented Jim Crow laws?
It's interesting that you picked a specific law instead of something more general, otherwise we could go back to things like the caste system which created permane
Social (Score:5, Interesting)
Was there any information relating to their social scores? That'd be an interesting leak.
Fascinating for research (Score:1)
That would be an incredible dataset for comparing education and skill set trends against age, location, career history and education history.
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Find out who has a passport and had approval to travel outside China.
Be interesting to count the number of forigners by year.
Is China accepting less applications from forigners now than over the past decade?
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Find out who has a passport and had approval to travel outside China.
They don't need approval to travel. With a few narrow exceptions, such as paroled criminals, anyone in China can get a passport.
The Mao era ended 43 years ago.
More Chinese travel abroad than citizens of any other country.
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Who have to get government approval to get a passport.
Use the wrong political words online and that approval is difficult.
A Communist nation allows its trusted citizens permission to travel.
I was asked to review a Chinese person's resume (Score:5, Interesting)
I was asked to review a Chinese person's resume. The personal details they provide is rather astounding by Western standards. Phrases like "attractive," "young," "single," and "appealing" would be huge red flags here in the US, but I was told it's acceptable for their market and culture.
I felt bad for people who couldn't truthfully advertise themselves as attractive, young, single, and appealing over there.
What a country.
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I felt bad for people who couldn't truthfully advertise themselves as attractive, young, single, and appealing over there.
What makes you think people are any more truthful about that than the other crap on their resumes?
Not that the Chinese are unique in this regard, but resumes tend to be as much bullshit as the person thinks they can get away with. I've seen a few that could qualify for the Pulitzer prize for fiction. Of course, you can't blame people for doing it when the requirements the company posts are just as big of a load of bullshit.
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I did not mention that they were required to include a photograph of themselves.
Re:I was asked to review a Chinese person's resume (Score:4, Interesting)
As a Chinese person living in the West, it's a shame to see Westerners not appreciating the modern culture they have about accepting people for on the kind of person they are.
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As a Chinese person living in the West, it's a shame to see Westerners not appreciating the modern culture they have about accepting people for on the kind of person they are.
It's probably because while we are certainly the most accepting we are also the most criticized for ... not being accepting. It's in the process of back firing as we speak. Eventually people have had enough and tune out.
Why is it always MongoDB? (Score:5, Interesting)
It seems like whenever a story appears regarding an unprotected database being exposed on the web, inevitably it’s an instance of MongoDB. Why is that?
I mean, we’re not talking about a database exploit which inadvertently exposed the data... we’re talking about user error. So why are all these piss-poor admins running MongoDB?
Re:Why is it always MongoDB? (Score:4, Interesting)
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Really? User error? So completely and obviously unprotected? Can't think of any reasons to open such a db, briefly, on purpose?
Re:Why is it always MongoDB? (Score:4, Funny)
Re: Why is it always MongoDB? (Score:2)
Hilarious, thanks.
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I second GillBates0 below, that made my entire day.
The IT admin's resume needs an update (Score:2)
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Well even if you're the post-privacy type, you become much more vulnerable to identity theft for one thing...