The Delhi Police recently apprehended four individuals from different states in connection with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) data leak case, shedding light on a major breach that had exposed the personal details of over 81 crore Indians.
The ICMR data breach incident came into the spotlight over two months ago when central intelligence agencies discovered that sensitive information, including Aadhaar and passport records, had allegedly been leaked from the ICMR’s data bank and offered for sale on the dark web.
ICMR Data Breach: Four Individuals Arrested
The arrested individuals in the ICMR data breach incident, hailing from Odisha, Haryana, and Jhansi, were taken into custody last week. Among them was a Bachelor of Technology graduate from Odisha, along with two school dropouts from Haryana.
The suspects claimed during interrogation that, in addition to the ICMR data, they had pilfered information from the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Pakistan’s Computerized National Identity Card (CNIC).
According to reports by The Indian Express, the ICMR data leak case was initially reported to the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In). CERT-In verified the authenticity of the leaked data by cross-referencing it with the concerned departments and urged them to match it with the actual data.
The investigating authorities discovered that approximately 1 lakh people’s data had been posted as a sample on the dark web. They selected 50 individuals for verification and found a match, prompting them to launch an investigation into the ICMR data leak. This led to the Delhi Police registering a First Information Report (FIR) earlier this month.
Suspected Individuals Appear Before Court
The arrested suspects were presented before a Delhi court, which remanded them to seven days of police custody. Their backgrounds varied, but they collectively stand accused of compromising the security and privacy of a vast number of individuals through the ICMR data breach.
The ICMR data leak is an ongoing story, highlighting the vulnerabilities in the Indian cybersecurity space. The Cyber Express is closely monitoring the situation and we’ll update this post once we have more information about the breach and the individuals associated with the operation.
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