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Check if you were hit by massive SA data leak
Concerned you may be among the 33 million South Africans whose private records were leaked onto the internet? Now you can check.
JOHANNESBURG - Concerned you may be among the 33 million South Africans whose private records were leaked onto the internet? Now you can check.
2.2 million compromised email addresses have been loaded onto a website that allows internet users to confirm whether their personal data has been leaked.
I've now loaded the *email addresses only* for the South African "Master Deeds" breach into @haveibeenpwned https://t.co/nv5UjJpDsR
— Troy Hunt (@troyhunt) October 18, 2017
Australian-based security developer Troy Hunt uncovered the breach on Tuesday.
About 27 gigabytes of data containing the names, full identity numbers, income, employment history and even home addresses of 33 million South Africans have been uploaded onto the internet.
Only compromised email addresses have been uploaded to the ‘Have I Been Pwned?’ website, even though the data trove contains tens of millions of actual identities.
I won't be loading the government issued IDs; these are sensitive personal identifiers that should be carefully guarded
— Troy Hunt (@troyhunt) October 18, 2017
I can't help those who have questions around whether they were in the data set if their email address doesn't show up in @haveibeenpwned
— Troy Hunt (@troyhunt) October 18, 2017
The breach is being described as the biggest ever leak of private information in South Africa’s history.
It’s unclear at this stage if the leak was the result of a hack or negligence, or which company is the source of the data.
While the State Security Agency has not commented on the breach, it’s understood the matter is being investigated.
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