Reports have emerged claiming that the personal data of all Kazakhstan residents prior to 2020 is up for sale on a dark web forum marketplace.
A massive database has been discovered, containing an astonishing 36 million lines of data.
This collection includes a wealth of information, including full names, dates of birth, phone numbers, email addresses, home addresses, and even passport details.
The breach has been revealed to be the work of a threat actor operating under the username angellsint on BreachForums, a well-known dark web marketplace that focuses on selling databases and engaging in illegal activities.
According to Angellsint, the entire database is currently for sale at a fixed price of $400. In order to support their claim, the individual responsible for the threat shared a sample that showcased a fraction of the information present in the complete database.
Concerns are being raised about the potential impact of the sale of sensitive information on identity theft, fraud, and privacy violations for all citizens of Kazakhstan whose data is involved.
According to the post, the database includes information on the entire population up until 2020. This breach has raised concerns about its potential impact on national security and individual privacy.
It is possible that there are new immigrants who have recently arrived in the country, along with outdated home addresses and phone numbers.
However, considering that this database is 4 years old, a significant portion of the population may have kept their information unchanged.
According to reliable sources, Kazakhstan's current population stands at 19 million. The database contains a staggering 36 million lines of text, indicating the presence of significant data.
It is still unclear whether all Kazakhstan residents have had their data stolen and which infrastructure or system was breached, resulting in the theft of all citizens' data.
Furthermore, in 2020, a group of Chinese hackers gained access to major Kazakhstani telecommunications providers, from which they stole a total of 2.9 terabytes of data.
Based on the vastness of this data, it is reasonable to assume that a significant government agency or widely used infrastructure was compromised in order to steal such a significant amount of information.
Furthermore, over the course of two years, a group of Chinese hackers gained and maintained access to Kazakhstani telecommunications providers, from which they stole a total of 2.9 terabytes of data.
Although it is impossible to definitively determine the cause of the data breach due to the previous hack, it was the sole biggest breach that Kazakhstan encountered.