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China Data Leak Points to Massive Global Collection Effort

Adrianna Zhang

   A Chinese firm with suspected ties to the Chinese government has been
   amassing a database of detailed personal information on 2.4 million
   people, including more than 50,000 Americans, according to findings by
   an independent researcher and an Australia-based cybersecurity firm.

   Christopher Balding, an American professor who taught at Peking
   University's HSBC School of Business in Shenzhen for nine years,
   analyzed the data with Internet 2.0, a cybersecurity firm based in
   Canberra. They published their findings this week.

   Balding said the database was leaked to him in 2019.

   The cache, called the Overseas Key Information Database (OKIDB),
   contains the personal information of roughly 2.4 million people. Many
   of them are influential policymakers who can exert influence in their
   fields of specialty.

   According to their report, the database was compiled by China's Zhenhua
   Data Information Technology Co. The company was founded in 2017 and had
   offices in Shenzhen and Beijing. Its mission, according to a screen
   shot of their website, which was deleted not long ago, is to "aggregate
   global data and help the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation."

   Zhenhua Data's marketing and recruiting documents characterize the
   company as a patriotic firm, with the military as its primary target
   customer.

   Cybersecurity firm Internet 2.0 was able to recover the records of
   about 250,000 people from the leaked data, including 52,000 Americans,
   35,000 Australians and nearly 10,000 British citizens. These include
   politicians and businessmen, scientists, tech experts, academics,
   bankers, journalists and lawyers. Information about family members,
   such as the 11-year-old daughter of Canadian Prime Minister Justin
   Trudeau, was also recovered.

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