Data theft is a clear and present threat

(China Daily) A day after a cybercriminal going by the name “Fenice” claimed to have hacked 1.4 billion user accounts on Tencent, the Chinese internet giant told Southern Metropolis Daily on Wednesday that the claim was false and that the information had been manipulated and exaggerated with historical material, misleading the public.

According to a press release from Schubert Jonckheer & Kolbe LLP, the firm investigating the issue, a cybercriminal group called USDoD hacked the U.S. National Public Database in Florida in April and then made the database, containing information on 2.9 billion people, available on the dark web for $3.5 million.

The US case is a reminder for all platforms worldwide that store user data to protect the data in a more secure way from theft. US media outlets have predictably screamed themselves hoarse with headlines like “Hackers May Have Stole Every American’s Social Security Numbers”.

It would not be surprising if more people now face similar consequences, given the sheer amount of information stolen from the US database. Similar risks exist for registered users of social networking sites such as Meta (formerly Facebook), X (formerly Twitter), YouTube and others, where they shared personal information while creating the accounts.

This in turn requires concerted efforts from all sides to protect netizens. While police forces around the world need to work more closely together to crack down on criminal gangs involved in the theft of personal information, it is also imperative that internet giants strengthen cooperation with their governments, take more stringent preventive measures, and build stronger and higher firewalls to minimize, if not eliminate, the possibility of criminals stealing personal information. This is an issue that affects the safety of a majority of the world’s 8 billion inhabitants, the urgency of which is beyond question.

Source: By Zhang Zhouxiang | China Daily | Updated: 2024-08-16 07:41