A security firm has warned that China's social security system has loopholes that put millions of people's personal information at risk. (Photo : Reuters)
A Chinese security monitoring outfit has warned that millions of residents registered in the county's social security system are at risk of their personal information being leaked because of loopholes detected in the system.
A domestic Internet security monitoring group, butian.360.cn, a branch of IT Company Qihu 360, made the announcement on Wednesday. The company fears that sensitive information of over 50 million residents, including their ID numbers, properties and salaries, might be leaked.
The company has additionally expressed fears that government information could also be at risk of being leaked, including information on household registration as well as disease control, prevention centers and hospitals in over 30 provincial cities and regions.
About 2.7 million items of information about residents could be leaked due a loophole in the system of the social security bureau of Cangzhou, Hebei Province. Also, about 2.1 million items of information on residents stand the risks of being leaked due to a loophole in Shaanxi Province's Department of Human Resources and Social Security.
"Loopholes currently found are only the tip of the iceberg and more people could be at risk beyond our imagination," Deng Huan, a security expert from butian.360.cn, told the Global Times.
Deng highlighted the fact that sensitive social security system information could get into the wrong hands once leaked. He added that this could lead to a breach of people's privacy as their personal information could be released.
"For example, some may illegally copy ID cards and use credit cards with other people's identities," Deng added. He also noted the leak could even threaten the national economy.
"The massive loopholes reflect the problems in Chinese authorities' management and supervision of cyber information security," Qin An, a cyber security expert said.
"Meanwhile, the Internet security service providers should not exaggerate the potential threats of such loopholes but make efforts to solve the problem," Qin added.
