Report says Alibaba’s executives hauled in by Chinese officials over data heist
The Wall Street Journal has reported that e-commerce giant Alibaba’s executives, including Cloud vice president Chen Xuesong were hauled in by Chinese officials over a massive data heist.
Following the release of the report, the company’s shares slumped 5.7 per cent at the opening in Hong Kong.
Previously, the personal information of more than 1 billion Chinese residents was hacked in a cyber attack as per the Shanghai police.
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Citing cybersecurity researchers, WSJ reported that a dashboard for managing the database was left open on the internet for over a year without a password.
Launching an inspection since the theft was discovered, the Shanghai police said that the data was hosted on Alibaba’s cloud platform.
If Alibaba indeed was connected to the alleged breach then it would be “at the mercy of Beijing’s regulators,” according to the chief investment officer at Kaiyuan Capital in Hong Kong, Brock Silvers.
“New business could be impaired until this matter is cleared. Even when it is cleared, there is potential for substantial fines,” he said.
After a seller advertised the stolen database in a cybercrime forum, the report added that senior managers from Alibaba and its cloud unit held a virtual meeting on July 1.
Ostensibly for security purposes, China maintains a sprawling nationwide surveillance network that collects huge amounts of data from its citizens.
(With inputs from agencies)
