Covid-19 patients’ health data being sold on dark web

Mumbai: People who have been infected with the coronavirus are staring at a new kind of privacy breach, with their leaked health data being allegedly used by insurers and lenders to take a call on, say, their insurance premium, cyber security experts said.

They have also warned against potential identity thefts as several Covid-19 patients’ Aadhaar details along with their blood reports, health history, and plasma infusion details are all now available on the dark web.

“Hackers are accessing data in bulk from hospitals and diagnostic centres. In some cases, they can just buy from them,” said Srinivas Kodalli, a researcher with free software movement of India, who has been tracking data breaches.