NEWS ANALYSIS: Leaked data: 60-million records might have been online for years
Initially thought to be 30-million records, the data is now offline as South Africans start worrying about identity theft affecting them
The largest data leak in SA appears to have come from a large database file found on a server owned by property company Jigsaw Holdings, which has since been removed from the internet. It is not clear when the breach took place, nor how many people might have accessed the data. The website was badly set up, had poor security and the database file was easily searchable, security researchers have said. The file and server it was stored on was taken offline on Wednesday, said Jigsaw, which is the holding company for several real estate brands, including Aida‚ ERA and Realty-1. Braam de Jager, CEO of Aida Group, told Business Day a file was discovered on the server on Wednesday after news broke that an estimated 30-million ID numbers and other sensitive personal information was leaked online. "We only discovered that this morning," De Jager said, after the story broke about what’s being called the "masterdeeds" leak. The name comes from the entry "master_deeds" in the data, which was di...
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