{"id":413582,"date":"2015-02-28T16:04:46","date_gmt":"2015-02-28T14:04:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.moldova.org\/?p=413582"},"modified":"2015-02-28T16:04:46","modified_gmt":"2015-02-28T14:04:46","slug":"the-database-of-an-internet-provider-from-moldova-was-stolen-and-published","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.moldova.org\/en\/the-database-of-an-internet-provider-from-moldova-was-stolen-and-published\/","title":{"rendered":"The database of an internet provider from Moldova was stolen and published"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading Time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>

On Thursday, 26 of February, there was published a database of the customers of the Starnet company, that provides internet and phone services.<\/p>\n

The database contains peersonal data of the customers, but also ID codes, personal codes, emails, phone numbers, usernames, passwords and call histories. The link that was redirecting to the base was spread in the network, and more internet users announced that downloaded the entire database on their computers.<\/p>\n

Vitalie E\u0219anu, the founder of Privesc.EU, says that a virus couldn’t allow the data theft. “I suppose that only a former Starnet employee was able to copy and to publish the data”, said Vitalie. He added that Starnet could have taken more measures of security, like caching the data, to avoid the data leak.<\/p>\n

Eugen Frimu, an IT expert, believes that there happened a cyber attack due to some vulnerability points in the security system. Eugen said that the internet provider “could have encrypted the database, even if there is no 100% security”.<\/p>\n

According to Vadim Vieru, the lawyer of the Promo-LEX Association, Starnet violated the law of Personal Data Protection by providing insufficient security of the database.<\/p>\n

According to the Penal Code, the data theft is punished with a fee of 4000-8000 lei ($190-$400). Sharing the stolen data is punished with a fee of 4000-10000 lei ($190-$500), while the company can be punished with a fee of 20000-40000 lei ($1000-$2000).<\/p>\n

The Starnet company released a statement on Friday, 28 of February, in which it asks its customers to change the passwords of the personal account and of the email address.<\/p>\n

“The information was stolen through a cyber attack on company’s servers. We can say that the attackers used a virus to steal the data, including the names, the personal codes, phone numbers and email addresses. The information is always under Starnet’s protection, but the attack made the theft possible”, is mentioned in the press-release.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, on Friday, the SPIA department<\/a> of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Moldova identified two suspects in the case of the data stealing. With the help of the General Prosecutory, the Special Forces “Fulger” and the Security Services, the policemen arrested these persons and detained the systems used for the attack.<\/p>\n