A database of high-risk people and companies, many of which are believed to be to be involved in financial crime, corruption, and terrorism, has been leaked.
The so called World Check Danger Screening database comprises 2.2 million names of individuals and businesses, in accordance with Chris Vickery, a security specialist at MacKeeper, who claimed on a Reddit thread that he acquired the database.
The database goes back to early 2014, and it includes names, dates, places of birth, and other private details, which is accumulated from law enforcement records, political advice, articles, blog posts, and social media, amongst various other sources.
A smaller class of about 93,000 people believed to be connected to terrorism is also reported to be in the database.
Accessibility to the database is confined to verified people under strict European data protection laws.
Fiscal and data giant Thomson Reuters, which got the firm for $530 million in 2011, acknowledged the database was leaked, but the database isn’t believed to have come from Thomson Reuters’ servers.
“Thomson Reuters was yesterday alarmed to out of date advice from the World Check database that had been exposed by a third party. We’re glad to Chris Vickery for bringing this to our focus and instantly took steps to contact the third party responsible. Consequently, we can affirm that the third party has taken down the tips. We also have discussed to the third party to ensure there will not be any repeat of this unacceptable occurrence,” stated the representative.
Many banks and law firms use the database to help “minimize … threat of complicity in terrorist financing or money laundering,” mentioned Vice News after an investigation.
Vickery hasn’t yet publicly released the info, nevertheless, given its susceptibility.
Vickery is known for his security work, including when he shown the exposure of millions of Mexican voters, over 191 million US voters, and over three million Hello Kitty enthusiasts’ info. He also found the exposure of 13 million MacKeeper user accounts. MacKeeper fixed the defect and afterwards hired the research worker.
