The database costs around $250 at local electronics markets. It contains the full passport data of all the inhabitants of the Russian city of Krasnoyarsk and the surrounding region. Law enforcers have said there is little they can do to punish those selling the data, but experts at InfoWatch say that is not the case…
A complete database with information on all the residents of the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk and its environs has been leaked from a local Pension Fund archive to flea markets in the region, reports Komsomolskaya Pravda. The database, which contains peoples’ full names, dates and places of birth, registered addresses and passport details, costs 6-7,000 rubles, or $220-260.
A spokesman for the local agency for fighting economic crime stated that it was possible to buy “all kinds of personal details” in the local markets. However, combating such sales was very difficult because “by law, those kinds of databases are not considered state secrets, and they have no rights holder.” However, experts at InfoWatch are quick to point out that those databases are, in fact, protected by legislation. The relevant law “On personal data” was recently signed by President Putin. Therefore, charges can be brought against both those selling the database and the insiders at the Krasnoyarsk Pension Fund that leaked the information.
“These kinds of breaches are a common occurrence. Sometimes the press can’t even be bothered reporting about the appearance of yet another database on the black market. Everyone has got so used to it now. However, this can’t go on for much longer. The new law ‘On personal data’ has already created the legal foundations to punish the distributors and crooks inside ministries and agencies. The law enforcers now have to start enforcing the law,” says Denis Zenkin, marketing director at InfoWatch.
Source: Komsomolskaya Pravda
