Data of 2.9 crore Indians for sale on Dark Net, say cops

Nagpur: Maharashtra police’s cyber intelligence and analytical cell has revealed that data of 2.9 crore Indians was on sale in the dark Net. The findings have also been shared with the Ministry of Home Affairs and state Home Department.
Special IG Yashasvi Yadav of Maharashtra cyber security cell, who had released a video clip on the subject, stated that dark net constituted around 99.4% of internet and can be accessed through Tor browser.
If state cyber experts claim a bulk of this data was stolen from the job sites where the traffic has surged during the lockdown period marked by lay-offs and shutting down of businesses.
The massive data theft, now under the scrutiny of the state cyber cell, is also a cause for concern of the security and intelligence cell as it contains information like Aadhaar number, PAN, email IDs, bank and credit card details which was being sold to unknown persons across the globe. The citizens’ social media accounts and their contents like chats, likes, dislikes, images, videos and so on too have got compromised.
IG Yadav told TOI that most of the data was stolen from job or placement sites and phishing attacks and also through a popular app used for identification of callers. He warned the data can be used for siphoning off substantial amounts from people’s banks and credit cards.
“Such theft is both punishable under IT Act and also under provisions of IPC,” he said. “We are now probing how these data thefts were done and from where. At this moment, we are trying to alert citizens stating that data should be shared at only credible websites,” said Yadav.
Cyber expert Mahendra Limaye, also a laywer dealing in IT Act, said the cyber crooks used some loopholes in the websites to gain access to data. “At this juncture, it is very important for the government to pass the proposed Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019. It makes the government too liable for data theft and hence would have to shell out compensations to the claimants,” said Limaye.
“As of now, IT Act makes only private persons liable for either being sued for data theft and for paying compensation equivalent to loss under Section 43A of the enactment. Under Section 66, data theft is punishable with three years’ imprisonment or fine upto Rs 5 lakh or both,” said Limaye.