The portal of a ministry of Jharkhand state, India breached and data of 320,000 records exposed
Learn More
Cybersecurity researchers have discovered a security breach on the official website of the Ministry of AYUSH in the state of Jharkhand, exposing more than 320,000 patient records on the dark web. The Ministry of AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga & Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, and Homoeopathy) is a government ministry in the state of Jharkhand, India that focuses on the development and promotion of traditional systems of medicine and alternative therapies.
The breached database, contains patient records
- personally identifiable information (PII)
- medical diagnoses.
The compromised data also includes sensitive details about doctors, including their
- PII,
- login credentials,
- usernames,
- passwords,
- phone numbers.
The breach was initiated by a threat actor known as "Tanaka." The AYUSH website serves as a critical resource for information on Ayurveda, Yoga, Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, and Homoeopathy treatments.
Researchers established the connection between the compromised data and Ayush Jharkhand's website by cross-referencing chatbot and blog post data shared by the threat actor with publicly accessible data on the website.
The breach exposed approximately 500 login credentials, contact information of 737 individuals who used the "Contact Us" form, 472 records containing PII details of doctors, PII data of 91 doctors, along with their deployment information.
No details are available about the nature of the breach nor any infromation from the Ministry itself.
Cybersecurity experts recommend mitigation strategies for the users of the portal such as strong passwords, multi-factor authentication, prompt computer patching, and being very weary of messages in messaging platforms and email.
