- A Dutch hacker has obtained access to nine million Austrian registration data and was caught trying to sell them online.
- The hacker was found to be a 25-year-old who stole data from the Netherlands, Thailand, China, Colombia, and Great Britain, among other countries.
- The reason for the leak was an employee who used GIS data during a test and was careless with the data.
A Dutch hacker has obtained nine million Austrian registration data through a data leak and has been trying to sell them online. In May 2020, an attack was discovered against the Fee Information Service (GIS), which involved data belonging to Austrians being found on a dark web market it is suspected to be the same hacker.
All registration data affected
During the hacking incident, practically all Austrian registration data were affected, i.e. names, dates of birth, and registration addresses of all citizens, according to Klaus Mits who is the Head of the Department for the Cybercriminal Police Office in Austria’s Federal Criminal Police Office (Bundeskriminalamt or BK).
The 25-year-old hacker apparently had around 130,000 databases in his collection. In addition to Austria, the data he stole came from the Netherlands, Thailand, China, Colombia, and Great Britain, among others. Apparently, he also acquired and offered patient data as the Dutch authorities announced in a broadcast on Wednesday.
The reason for the leak seems to be an employee of a company who used GIS data during a test and left the data unprotected. The hacker was arrested in November of 2022 and the incident is revealed by Die Presse.