Servers belonging to the Entry-Exit Department of the Guangdong Public Security Bureau (PSB) have been hacked, and the legal names, passport and ID numbers, dates of birth, home addresses and telephone numbers for more than 4.44 million people have been leaked online, writes Southern Metropolis Daily today.
This is the latest in a series of hacking incidents and data leaks being carried out by unknown badasses in protest against real name regulations for microblog sites and other online services in China.
The regulations began in Beijing and were recently extended to Guangzhou and Shenzhen, which you may have already noticed if you’re on Sina Weibo—which TheNanfang.com is, here.
The PSB confirmed the leak on, where else, Weibo, and said that steps have been taken to patch the vulnerability hackers used to gain access. It remains unknown what, or if any, portion of the leaked data belongs to individuals from outside of mainland China, Hong Kong or Macau, but search interfaces for the leaked database can be found online if you’re inclined to find out.
Police have also said that an investigation is underway to find those responsible for the breach.
Can China’s Internet users and passport holders expect better protection of their data?
China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has gotten involved, demanding that websites take more steps to secure their databases and urging them to be quick about notifying users to change their passwords when attacks like this occur.
MIIT is also urging providers of online services to disclose data breaches to the public when they’ve been attacked, meaning the hack of the PSB might not be the last we’ll hear of this.