Azerbaijani hackers access Armenian citizens' passport data, IT security specialist warns  

The passport data of around 300 Armenian citizens have become easily reachable to Azerbaijanis, an information security expert said today, predicting the likelihood of the personal information leakage through a credit organization.

Samvel Martirosyan had earlier raised alarm over a reported hacking in a Facebook post, saying that "tons of personal data" (including passport information and bank documents) were being actively shared by Azerbaijani social media users.

According to him, those who accessed the information were members of the same group which had earlier released the names of Armenian residents infected with coronavirus. "That group seems to have made the practice part of a daily routine, sharing every time a specific kind of information, e.g. - a big data base of passports, paper document snapshots from military units revealing the number of vehicles, etc.,"  the expert told Tert.am.

Martirosyan said he doesn't think that the team has enough capacity to access sophisticated systems (given they hack only email accounts). "In all probability, they send emails by random choice, and that unfortunately appears to be the result of negligent work with information," he noted.

Asked whether the National Security Service (NSS) has anything to do in that connection, Martirosyan said he sees no other solution in the light of the tremendous amount of the information leaked.

"The NSS does, certainly, have something to do; they are required to find [a solution]. But unless there is a regulation or clarification, i.e. - procedures to work with information, they will be forced to chase after information post-factum to identify the sender. A legislative regulation must be in place; the government must elaborate special specific policies subject to a universal application," he added.

As a real and "the most primitive" hazard, Martirosyan warned of the scenario of requesting credits on behalf of other individuals.  

Asked how the hackers eventually gained access to those data to share them via emails, the expert hinted the possibility of ties with a specific credit organization. "This one, in all likelihood, is a credit organization which requested individuals to send [scanned] passports, making the entire [information] available in a single email account," he explained.