A massive data leak affecting roughly two million members of the Communist Party of China (CPC) has been reportedly exposed. Following the incident, the positions of thousands of members have been leaked, revealing that members have placed themselves in various major industries.
Some of the members have been found embedded in different sectors, such as banking, finance, defense, pharmaceutical companies involved in making the virus pandemic vaccine, research firms, automobile manufacturers, and even universities.
Some of the most prominent companies where members of the Communist Party of China held prominent positions include the likes of Pfizer and AstraZeneca, both pharmaceutical giants involved in the making of the COVID-19 vaccine, reports Business Today.
Apart from this, some of the members were also found working in the financial sector such as ANZ and HSBC. Meanwhile, Business Today also revealed that members from the CPC were also working under Boeing, the aircraft manufacturer as well as under the German carmaker Volkswagen.
TEISS said that there are also some working for British consulates and luxury car makers such as Rolls Royce and Jaguar. There are also people from the Chinese Communist Party working in Standard Chartered Bank.
A report from the Australian found under the Economic Times said that the records revealed not only the position of the party member in question but also other personal details. These include the national identification number, ethnicity, and the birthdate of the member.
In a report released by TEISS, it said that the database was obtained from a CCP server based in Shanghai by whistleblowers sometime in 2016. The database was reportedly shared via Telegram and passed on by a Chinese dissident working with the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC).
In her report dated Monday, December 14, 2020, The Australian journalist Sharri Markson said that this “is believed to be the first leak of its kind in the world” and that the incident exposed “the lid on how the party operates under President and Chairman Xi Jinping.”
Though Economic Times said Markson reiterated that there is no evidence of espionage, the main concern over this data leak is whether “steps have been taken to protect their data and people.”
Following the revelation, TEISS states that this incident begs the question of whether or not the intellectual property is secured, especially when it comes to the vaccines aimed to address the current virus pandemic. This also sheds light on the possibility of increasing insider threat due to CCP members working in such corporations and agencies.
