Details of 44 Million Pakistani Mobile Users Leaked Online, Part of Bigger 115 Million Cache (zdnet.com) 11
An anonymous reader quotes a report from ZDNet: The details of 44 million Pakistani mobile subscribers have leaked online this week, ZDNet has learned. The leak comes after a hacker tried to sell a package containing 115 million Pakistani mobile user records last month for a price of $2.1 million in bitcoin. Data contains names, phone numbers, national IDs, and home addresses among others, and is believed to have originated from Jazz, a local mobile provider. According to our analysis of the leaked files, the data contained both personally-identifiable and telephony-related information. This includes the likes of: Customer full names; Home addresses (city, region, street name); National identification (CNIC) numbers; Mobile phone numbers; Landline numbers; and Dates of subscription.
Based on the dates of subscription, the oldest entries in the leaked files are from late 2013, suggesting that hackers either got their hands on an older backup file, or the breach took place in 2013, and only now surfaced online. The vast majority of entries in the leaked files contained mobile phone numbers belonging to Jazz (formerly Mobilink), a Pakistani mobile operator. However, ZDNet also identified phone numbers that appeared to belong to other mobile operators. [...] The incident is already under investigation in Pakistan, where the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) and the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) are looking into the matter since last month when the hacker first tried to sell the entire 115 million batch on a hacker forum.
Based on the dates of subscription, the oldest entries in the leaked files are from late 2013, suggesting that hackers either got their hands on an older backup file, or the breach took place in 2013, and only now surfaced online. The vast majority of entries in the leaked files contained mobile phone numbers belonging to Jazz (formerly Mobilink), a Pakistani mobile operator. However, ZDNet also identified phone numbers that appeared to belong to other mobile operators. [...] The incident is already under investigation in Pakistan, where the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) and the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) are looking into the matter since last month when the hacker first tried to sell the entire 115 million batch on a hacker forum.
Leaked! (Score:3, Funny)
My national telecommunications company did this when I was a kid.
Not only did the leak everybody's name, address and phone number, but they published it and gave it away for free to every household!
I think they called it The White Pages.
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Back in the day the white pages here actually had home addresses by default in addition to the phone number and name. Though you could op out when signing up for the phone service.
Though it did not have ID numbers.
The Whitepages of Pakistan! (Score:3)
Back in the day, we used to have these large books that had everyone's phone number, address, first and last name (sometimes middle) and they were delivered to our doorsteps multiple times a years. We called that a phone book.
While its no fun to have a data breach, it sounds to me like all of this is basically public information already.
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Growth is an erratic forward movement: two steps forward, one step back. - Julia Cameron
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What do they do with National ID's? Is that like a Social Security Number?
I ran your sig through a HEX decoder and that is an interesting 5 words. What is that supposed to be? Right now my guess is it is your secret for your bitcoin wallet. ;)
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Numbers do not feel. Do not bleed or weep or hope. They do not know bravery or sacrifice. Love and allegiance. At the very apex of callousness, you will find only ones and zeros.
- Amie Kaufman
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I ran your sig through a HEX decoder and that is an interesting 5 words. What is that supposed to be? Right now my guess is it is your secret for your bitcoin wallet. ;)
This. [questionablecontent.net] Be sure to enjoy all of that you'll have to read to find the reference. :-)
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Well, I read and I guess all I heard was *WHOOSH* as it must have gone over my head? I didn't get the joke at the beginning, unless that wasn't a joke. Or was it supposed to be a funny on the play on words? *present*/*presence*?
Either way, I hope your sig makes you smile. I'm still going with "secret to your bitcoin wallet."
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People say nothing is impossible, but I do nothing every day. - A. A. Milne