Personal data of over 3 crore Star Health customers up for sale online: Report
This came two weeks after the insurance company sued messaging app Telegram and an unidentified hacker for a data breach.
The personal and health-related data of around 3.1 crore customers of insurance company Star Health has been put up for sale online, reported Business Standard on Wednesday.
The data includes customers’ names, residential addresses, phone numbers, Permanent Account Numbers, policy nominees and information about pre-existing diseases.
This came nearly two weeks after Star Health filed a lawsuit against the messaging application Telegram and an unidentified hacker for leaking the private data of its customers. The hacker was reportedly using chatbots on the messaging app to leak the data.
It was not immediately known if the latest leak was orchestrated by the same hacker.
As part of the latest leak, a hacker who goes by the name “xenZen” created a website and put the data for sale for $1,50,000, or nearly Rs 1.26 crore. A smaller package with about one lakh entries is being sold for $10,000, or nearly Rs 8.4 lakh.
The hacker also claimed that the data was sold to him by Star Health’s Chief Information Security Officer Amarjeet, who later tried to change the terms of their deal. The hacker has shared a purported video showing chats and emails between him and Amarjeet.
“I am leaking all Star Health India customers and insurance claims sensitive data,” wrote the hacker. “This leak is sponsored by Star Health and Allied Insurance Company, which sold this data to me directly. You can check the authenticity of the data in the Telegram bots below and read about how they sold it in the section below.”
The hacker has shared a sample set of the data, containing personal details of a few government officials, as proof of his claims.
The Madras High Court is scheduled to hear Star Health’s matter next on October 25. It had issued notices to Telegram and Cloudflare in the last hearing.