Hacker group claims access to data of 1.9 crore Pathao users

A hacker group has claimed that it successfully breached the security parameters of Pataho, and collected a vast trove of identification data of 1.9 crore people who use the ride-sharing platform.

Pathao has confirmed the security breach, and stealing of user data, but the company has yet to give a definite figure over the scale of the damage.

The hacker group has made the claims in the underground web network, the Daily Dark Web reported on Wednesday. It group said it has stolen 133-gigabyte user data, and demanded that Pathao must pay $4 lakh ransom to avoid the wider dissemination of the data.

It also said it had access to Pathao’s internal and business-related information.

The hacker group’s claims could not be independently verified.

On Wednesday, Pathao posted a message on its Facebook page, acknowledging the user data breach.

An unidentified group or groups gained access to information including phone number, email address, names and addresses of users, Pathao said in an official social media post, without specifying the number of users affected.

The breach took place on 4 October, and upon identifying it, Pathao urgently took certain crucial systems offline to avoid further damage, it said. The services were resumed shortly afterwards, but the works on returning to stability were ongoing, causing disruptions to some user activities, it said on Wednesday.

External cyber experts have been involved in the restoration works, and Pathao is working closely with the authorities concerned in the investigation and restoration efforts, it added.

It also urged users to remain cautious over unsolicited messages, calls and links, which might claim to represent Pathao. Pathao has also warned users against sharing passwords, pins and OTPs with these unverified links.