Baidu executive's daughter leaked user data following an online spat

Chinese multinational technology company Baidu has denied claims of suffering a data breach after reports emerged that the teenaged daughter of a company executive leaked the sensitive personal information of its users.

 

Headquartered in Beijing, China, Baidu specialises in internet services and artificial intelligence and is particularly known for its dominant position in China’s search engine market.

 

Recently, Reuters reported that a top Baidu executive’s teenaged daughter posted the personal details of other Internet users online. Baidu vice president Xie Guangjun’s daughter had reportedly exposed the sensitive data following an argument with others online.

 

Responding to reports about the alleged data security incident, Baidu denied the claims and said it has lodged a complaint with relevant law enforcement authorities regarding false information circulating online, including claims that the teenager had admitted her father had provided her with access to a company database.

 

However, in a statement shared with Chinese media agencies, Guangjun, who is a senior executive at Baidu’s cloud division, apologised for the data leak and said his daughter collected the information from overseas social networking sites.

 

Sharing a similar statement, Baidu said that all staff, executives or otherwise are prohibited from accessing user databases, adding that the leaked information was sourced from “doxing databases” found on foreign platforms.

 

Since the news of the data leak came to light, Baidu’s share in the Hong Kong trading market fell more than 4%.