Hacker doxxes nearly every adult in El Salvador
Personally identifiable information for more than 5 million Salvadorans has been available for free download since Saturday. According to the hacker responsible, this is the largest breach in the country’s history.
Disturbingly detailed information, including full names, birthdays, phone numbers, residential addresses, email addresses, and social security number-equivalent DUI numbers, has been stolen and made accessible via dark web torrents.
What’s even more worrying is the fact that the breach also includes millions of high-definition, unwatermarked, and DUI-numbered headshot photos of Salvadorans.
In fact, the breach affects the vast majority of Salvadoran adults. There are approximately 6.6 million Salvadorans, including children, including one-fifth who live abroad as diaspora.
The massive, 144GB data leak has been available to download for a $250 fee since August, but the threat actor who possessed the information claimed that the victims failed to pay his ransom demand. As punishment, the hacker released the data for free.
La Prensa Gráfica, a Spanish-language newspaper headquartered in El Salvador, confirmed the breach.
Read more: Ransomware gang wants 15 bitcoins from ‘world’s largest’ yacht dealer
New risks replace traditional violence in El Salvador
El Salvador is a dictatorship run by President Nayib Bukele who installed judges to modify the country’s constitution to allow himself to exceed the previously-unconstitutional presidential term limits. He has used various tactics to reduce once-rampant gang violence, including the extrajudicial imprisonment of 2% of the adult males residing in the country.
Bukele also approved the country’s adoption of bitcoin as legal tender to an English-speaking audience in Miami prior to even informing his Salvadoran constituency.
The country is also home to expansive operations by iFinex and its subsidiaries like Bitfinex and Tether. iFinex subsidiary personnel have been instrumental in crafting legislation, bond issuances, and financial schemes. Various bond issuances and governmental programs in El Salvador accept both bitcoin and tether from institutional investors.
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