Russian Interior Ministry Opens Five Criminal Cases Against 'Glaz Boga' Analog Platforms Selling Personal Data of Russian Citizens
The Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD) of Russia has opened five criminal cases after identifying several internet platforms that were actively selling personal data belonging to Russian citizens. These services functioned according to the well-known model of «Glaz Boga» (Eye of God), where users could pay a fee and immediately receive comprehensive biographical information about individuals compiled into multiple files.
According to the ministry, the investigations are being conducted under Article 272.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. This article specifically criminalizes the illegal use, transfer, collection, and storage of computer information that contains personal data. The platforms in question offered a wide range of confidential information, including passport details, information about bank accounts, and other sensitive records that had been aggregated from various sources.
Law enforcement officers have already seized the servers belonging to these services. Investigators are now examining the seized equipment in detail, studying its contents, and collecting additional evidence to support the criminal proceedings. At this stage, the MVD has not disclosed the names of the platforms involved, the total number of clients who used the services, or the exact volume of personal data that was sold through them.
It also remains unknown how many Russian citizens may have had their information included in these databases. The situation reflects a broader and long-standing problem: repeated large-scale data leaks have turned personal information into a commercial product, while underground services operate as ordinary marketplaces. Instead of offering discounts or delivery services, these platforms sell passports, financial account details, and fragments of private lives to anyone willing to pay.
The operators of the five platforms now face the task of explaining to investigators the origins of the databases they used, the identities of the buyers who purchased access, and the pricing structures applied to different levels of data access.
Related articles
Russian Medical Data Leaks Explode in July: 88 Million Records Exposed
In July 2026 more than 100 million records containing personal data of Russian citizens appeared in open access. Experts from Perspektivny Monitoring recorded 17 separate leaks originating from commercial organizations, online platforms, government bodies, e-commerce stores and medical institutions. The medical sector accounted for the overwhelming majority with 88.37 million records leaked, a sharp increase from 1.7 million in June. Two major incidents, one involving a large medical information system, drove the spike. Head of cyber threat research Nikolay Galkin stated that medical data has now leaked for four consecutive months and that attackers are deliberately targeting highly sensitive information. Other sectors also suffered losses, with 11.12 million records from commercial entities, 8.45 million from online platforms, 8.36 million from government organizations and 2.1 million from internet shops. Stolen databases are routinely traded in messenger channels and dark web marketplaces for use in fraud schemes.
SplitVPN Data Breach Exposes Personal Information of 865,000 Users
A data breach at the Russian VPN provider SplitVPN, formerly known as NotVPN, has exposed the personal details of approximately 865,000 users. The incident, which occurred in July 2026, involved a 17 GB SQL database containing emails, IP addresses, geolocation data, and partial payment card information. The stolen material was later distributed on a cybercrime forum, revealing 23.4 million user records, 13.6 million devices, and 2.6 million payment entries. Nearly 58 million connection logs spanning June 2025 to 21 July 2026 were also included, contradicting the company’s previous no-logs policy. The exposure is particularly concerning for users relying on the service to evade censorship and surveillance.
Click to Pray App Exposed Personal Data of 719,000 Users Through Unprotected API Endpoint
Security researcher BobDaHacker discovered an IDOR vulnerability in the official Click to Pray application run by the Pope's Worldwide Prayer Network. The flaw allowed anyone to retrieve full user profiles, including names, emails, countries, and birth dates, by simply incrementing numeric user IDs in API requests. No authorization checks or rate limits were present on the endpoint despite the service holding data for over 719,000 registered accounts. The researcher reported the issue to nine contacts in January 2026 but received no response for seven months. Dark Reading independently verified the exposure before publication, after which the endpoint was quickly restricted. The same service had suffered similar authorization failures in 2019 involving PIN code exposure through its eRosary application. The case highlights persistent gaps in object-level authorization and responsible disclosure channels at the Vatican-backed platform.
Measuring Data Leak Risk by Days of Silence Rather Than Megabytes in Cloud Environments
A financial expert turned security specialist argues that the true cost of data leaks in cloud offices stems not from the volume of exposed files but from the duration they remain undetected. The article details how routine actions such as making documents public, forwarding emails externally, or changing passwords can silently expose sensitive information in platforms like Yandex 360 without triggering any alerts. It warns against blanket prohibitions that push risky behavior into unmonitored channels like personal email or messengers, reducing visibility to zero. Instead, the recommended approach focuses on real-time event-driven notifications combined with automated remediation to minimize the window of exposure. The piece provides a detailed checklist for evaluating monitoring tools, including immediate reaction capabilities, self-healing actions, regular overview reports, and proof of system health. Emphasis is placed on secure integration via OAuth, data residency compliance, and the importance of treating employees as hurried professionals rather than malicious actors.