Russian hackers took over data from mobile phones belonging to 148,000 Norwegians. The Personal Data Protection Office considered the scale of the incident to be “potentially huge” and the incident could have serious consequences.
The stolen data is said to contain information about the location and movement of mobile phone users. Norwegian television NRK refers to the announcement on a Russian hacker forum. The authors of the entry claim that the information obtained can be assigned to specific subscribers.
Possible serious consequences
Tobias Judin from the Norwegian data protection authority Datatilsynet, quoted by NRK television, admitted that the incident could have serious consequences.
– The scale of theft could potentially be huge. The obtained data may contain sensitive information that can be used to influence and manipulate those concerned, he told Norwegian television journalists.
This is where the data was allegedly stolen
The location data was allegedly stolen from the Norwegian-American company Gravy Analytics. She collected them from applications installed on mobile phones.
In 2024, the US Federal Trade Commission accused the company of illegally trading in data of mobile phone users, containing information about personal relationships, pregnancies, political and religious views of mobile device users. In December, Reuters reported that Gravy Analytics had entered into a contract with the administration Joe Biden a settlement prohibiting the company from collecting location data. Neither NRK nor Reuters journalists received any comment from Gravy Analytics regarding the disclosed data theft.
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