As VietNamNet has reported, a huge volume of data was offered for sale on Telegram, which stirred up the public because of the huge scale of the database.

According to P.V.H, a veteran developer in Hanoi, who has deep knowledge about the matter, people may think that the data might come from telecom carriers, because the input data in this case is a mobile phone number. However, H believes the data is sourced from a very big warehouse. 

He said the data market in Vietnam is bustling. As data is considered ‘gold’, different parties collect from many sources to sell to parties that need information.

However, this work has been implemented quietly and data trading companies have been making purchases and sales secretly. The clients are mostly businesses which want to learn about their target clients, and data are sold in packages of high value.

Meanwhile, in this case, the data amount offered for sale is huge and offered in the open air to all clients, which shows that some developers who work for a big data collection company are using parts of the data to sell privately. This is a daring action, as this is illegal behavior.

Of the data offered for sale on Telegram, from mobile phone numbers, one can find out information about the subscribers. After conducting a search based on a mobile phone number, one is given important information such as full name, type of customers, birth date, nationality, and other important factors.

Users can look up information about subscribers of all three network operators – Viettel, MobiFone and VinaPhone. The three network operators are suspected of being the sources of the data leakage.

A representative of Viettel Group told VietNamNet that the group is conducting an investigation and no vulnerability has been found so far. Viettel has promised to provide information as soon as it has results.

MobiFone also said it is conducting an internal check after reading the report from VietNamNet, examining the system and information related to the problem. To date, MobiFone has not found any holes.

VinaPhone had the same answer.

According to P.V.H, this is the first time data sale/purchase is made automatically and publicly on Telegram. Previously, this was made only on foreign websites, closed groups, via Zalo or Viber.

Le My