A Chinese opposition activist sent the Five Eyes Intelligence Alliance a database of 2.4 million citizens of the United States, Great Britain, Australia, Canada, India and Japan, which was collected by the Chinese intelligence company Zhenhua Data. According to analysts, most of the data is collected from open sources, such as social media profiles, which include date of birth, marital status, photographs, a list of relatives, social media accounts, education, professional achievements and a list of offenses. However, there are also highly confidential data, such as bank records and job applications.
Among the people on whom the Chinese company has collected data are high-ranking politicians, members of the royal family and army commanders. Internet 2.0, a cybersecurity consulting company based in Canberra and whose clients include the US and Australian governments, said it was able to recover the records of approximately 250,000 people from the leaked dataset, including some 52,000 Americans, 35,000 Australians, and nearly 10,000 British. Among those whose data was found in the database, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison. It is assumed that some of the information Zhenhua Data found on the darknet.
An American intelligence analyst, speaking to ABC, called the base "Cambridge Analytica on steroids." Sources of The Age in British intelligence considered the scale of such a leak to be "frightening". American scientist and cybersecurity expert Christopher Balding said the leak was like "opening the Holy Grail":
The remote site Zhenhua Data claimed that the company provided services for "military, security and foreign propaganda," and described its mission as influencing the "great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation."
When the Guardian approached Zhenhua for comment, they replied, "The reports of the incident are untrue."
“All our data is publicly available on the Internet. We do not collect them. It's just data integration. Our business model and partners are our trade secrets. There is no database of two million people, ”said a company spokeswoman named Song, who also identified herself as the head of Zhenhua Data.
“We are a private company,” she said, denying any ties to the Chinese government or the military. "Our clients are research organizations and business groups."
Among the people on whom the Chinese company has collected data are high-ranking politicians, members of the royal family and army commanders. Internet 2.0, a cybersecurity consulting company based in Canberra and whose clients include the US and Australian governments, said it was able to recover the records of approximately 250,000 people from the leaked dataset, including some 52,000 Americans, 35,000 Australians, and nearly 10,000 British. Among those whose data was found in the database, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison. It is assumed that some of the information Zhenhua Data found on the darknet.
An American intelligence analyst, speaking to ABC, called the base "Cambridge Analytica on steroids." Sources of The Age in British intelligence considered the scale of such a leak to be "frightening". American scientist and cybersecurity expert Christopher Balding said the leak was like "opening the Holy Grail":
The remote site Zhenhua Data claimed that the company provided services for "military, security and foreign propaganda," and described its mission as influencing the "great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation."
When the Guardian approached Zhenhua for comment, they replied, "The reports of the incident are untrue."
“All our data is publicly available on the Internet. We do not collect them. It's just data integration. Our business model and partners are our trade secrets. There is no database of two million people, ”said a company spokeswoman named Song, who also identified herself as the head of Zhenhua Data.
“We are a private company,” she said, denying any ties to the Chinese government or the military. "Our clients are research organizations and business groups."
