PN data hack: cyber criminals leak details of over 21,000 people

The personal information of more than 21,000 people has been dumped on the dark web by the cyber criminals that hacked into the Nationalist Party’s computer system.

The leak includes names, addresses, ID cards and phone numbers of what appears to be a database containing former and current party members.

The files were published to the hackers’ forum on the dark web, which is an online space not accessible by conventional search engines. The PN was the victim of an attack last March.

Hackers threatened to leak “valuable” information of the party unless it agreed to communicate and cooperate with them.

However, party leader Bernard Grech had said that the party would not negotiate with cybercriminals. The hackers had asked the party for €5,000 not to leak the information.

The party was given 240 hours to pay the ransom demanded, after which the hacker group said it will dump all the data hacked from the PN onto its dark website, for anyone to see and download.

In recent days hackers have uploaded three files, but not all of them are accessible. 

On Monday, the party told the Times of Malta that it believed the hackers could only access data relating to 2014 or earlier.

A police investigation and magisterial inquiry are underway.