China’s elite targeted in Twitter leak
Print Edition
PERSONAL details said to be those of a number of China’s elite have been posted to an anonymous Twitter account.
The data disclosure, including national identification numbers, birth dates and addresses, would be one of the country’s highest profile leaks of sensitive data if proved accurate.
Among those whose personal details were revealed were China’s richest men: Wang Jianlin, chairman of Dalian Wanda Group, and Jack Ma, founder and executive chairman of Chinese tech giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.
Reuters could not independently confirm the accuracy of the data exposed in a series of Twitter posts this week, published under the handle @shenfenzheng, which means “identity card” in Chinese.
However, Sima Nan, a television pundit, told Reuters his personal identification number was revealed before the Twitter account became inaccessible.
“I am unclear about other people’s (information), but mine is indeed the content registered on my public security household registration,” Sima said.
The New York Times said it had confirmed the information for Ma, Wang, and Wang’s wife and son, whose details were published along with those of many other prominent Chinese.
Foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang, asked at a regular briefing if the data was genuine and who China thought might be responsible, said: “I have also noticed this report but we really don’t understand the relevant situation.”
Dalian Wanda declined to comment, and Alibaba did not respond to a request for comment.
Sima said he had not been contacted by authorities and that he was unclear about the possible motive.
“You can’t rule out that somebody merely wants to display that they have the capability to break into and steal internal information from the public security system,” Sima said.
In China, paying for or disseminating private information is a crime, though black market buying and selling of such data is considered widespread in a country where corporate records and personal connections can be opaque.
“Are you shocked by this information? I hope it can arouse thinking among fellow compatriots. Personal privacy in China is basically worthless,”
@shenfenzheng said in one tweet, according to a cached version of the posts on the account.
Similar breaches of cyber security have become widespread in the West, with the US Office of Personnel Management having disclosed that millions of federal employees’ personal data was compromised in cyber attacks.
China has also been grappling with a sharp rise in the number of hacking cases. In February, hackers attempted to access more than 20 million accounts at Alibaba’s Taobao website.
Twitter could not be reached for comment, though the company says posting private information, such as personal identification numbers, non-public phone numbers, addresses and contact information, can be a violation of its rules for which accounts can be locked or suspended.
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