- A hacker offered to sell the personal information of 48.5 million users of a COVID health code mobile app run by Shanghai city for $4,000, Reuters reports.
- It marks the second claim of a breach of the Chinese financial hub's data in just over a month.
- Suishenma is the Chinese name for Shanghai's health code system, which China established in early 2020 to combat the spread of COVID-19.
- The city government manages the data, and users access it via the Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE: BABA) affiliate Ant Group's Alipay app and Tencent Holding Ltd's (OTC: TCEHY) WeChat app.
- The app collects travel data to give people a red, yellow, or green rating indicating the likelihood of having the virus, and users have to show the code to enter public venues.
- "This DB (database) contains everyone who lives in or visited Shanghai since Suishenma's adoption," claimed the hacker who initially asked for $4,850.
- In July, another hacker claimed to have procured 23 terabytes of personal information belonging to one billion Chinese citizens from the Shanghai police.
- The hacker acknowledged regaining the stolen information from Alibaba Cloud.
- The Shanghai police summoned Alibaba executives and senior technicians after the breach.
- Price Action: BABA shares traded lower by 3.05% at $91.98 in the premarket on the last check Friday.
- Photo by Fooksou Lamimo via Wikimedia
