ICMR data breach: accused stole data from US' FBI too

New Delhi: The Delhi Police have arrested four men from three states in the case of personal data of 81 crore Indians were leaked and put on sale on the Dark Web two months ago. The data was leaked from the data bank of the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR), The Indian Express reported.

According to the police, the suspects have stolen data from the US's Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) as well as Pakistan's Computerised National Identity Card (CNIC).

A senior officer of the Delhi Police has taken suo motu cognizance of the data leak and registered an FIR earlier this month. The arrested were a B.Tech degree holder from Odisha, two school dropouts from Haryana and one from Jhansi. They were produced before a Delhi court and remanded seven days of police custody.

The initial investigation stated that the arrestees met on a gaming platform and became friends. They decided to make some quick money.

The data breach was noted in October, and they were found matching with their owners. After that, an immediate probe was launched. The arrestees are being questioned by all central agencies on how they stole the data.

The leaked data was first found by the American cyber security and intelligence agency Resecurity, which noticed 815 million 'Indian Citizen Aadhaar & Passport' records being on sale on the Dark Web.

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