Four arrested in connection with ICMR data leak, exposing data of 810 million Indians

Delhi Police have detained four individuals from various states in relation to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) data breach case, uncovering a significant breach that revealed the personal information of more than 81 crore Indians.

The ICMR data breach surfaced over two months ago when intelligence agencies detected a suspected leak of sensitive data, including Aadhaar and passport records, allegedly traded on the dark web from the ICMR’s database.

The apprehended individuals, from Odisha, Haryana, and Jhansi, were taken into custody last week. Among them, a Bachelor of Technology graduate from Odisha and two school dropouts from Haryana were identified.

During questioning, the suspects admitted to accessing ICMR data and information from the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Pakistan’s Computerized National Identity Card (CNIC).

The Indian Express reports that the ICMR data leak case was first reported to CERT-In, which authenticated the leaked data by cross-referencing it with relevant departments and prompted an investigation.

Authorities found a sample of approximately 1 lakh people’s data on the dark web. Upon verifying 50 individuals from this sample, they discovered a match, triggering the launch of an official investigation and the filing of a First Information Report (FIR) by the Delhi Police earlier this month.

The arrested suspects were presented before a Delhi court and remanded to seven days of police custody. They face accusations of compromising the security and privacy of numerous individuals through the ICMR data breach.