The data linked to the Chivo Wallet bitcoin (BTC) wallet of at least 5 million Salvadorans is now on the dark web, after a hacker leaked it.
According to what can be seen on BreachForum, commonly used among hackers, the hacker calling himself CiberInteligenciaSV, reported that he leaked 5.1 million frontal photographs in HD and without watermarks.
These are files “that are labeled with their identification number.” Likewise, a database is included that contains information about citizens, such as their DNI, their names, surnames, dates of birth , telephone, email and address.
In general, there are 144 GB of private information of millions of Salvadoran inhabitants who are now on the dark internet, at the mercy of any bad actor, according to what the hacker said.
The leak of the private data of millions of Salvadorans occurs after the hacker tried to sell the information which was stolen in August of last year.
The data that is now browsing the dark web is the data requested so that Salvadoran citizens can open accounts on the Chivo Wallet platform.
This means that user information that is linked to the Salvadoran government wallet is now freely downloadable on the dark internet.
The situation with private data has caused a stir and concern among the inhabitants of that country, among which bitcoiners stand out. Nicolas Burtey, CEO of Galoy, the company behind the Blink wallet, warned that the leak "is worse than he thought regarding phishing" that could be carried out in the future.
"If the government does not process the recovery of the Chivo Wallet account, many will lose money after being impersonated," he said.
Recalling that bitcoin is legal tender in El Salvador, Burtey questioned that due to the failures of the Chivo Wallet, "many Salvadorans do not want to have anything to do with bitcoin." "So they think bitcoin doesn't work."
The leak of private data by hackers is not something new. Crossing the Atlantic, in Spain, it was recently reported that hackers put millions of DNIs up for sale.
In general, there are about 40 million Spanish ID cards, along with private and personal data. Something that has set off alarm bells in the bitcoin community in Spain, based on the fact that “the Treasury has entire lists of people with crypto assets,” as lawyer Cristina Carrascosa points out.
The leak of private data, whether in El Salvador or Spain, is a demonstration of the risk that governments, as well as centralized entities, control the information of the inhabitants of the countries. One of the reasons that prompted Satoshi Nakamoto to create bitcoin, because this asset calls for privacy and protection of identity.
