Massive Chinese Data Leak Exposes 8.7 Billion Records On February 4, 2026, cybersecurity researchers revealed a major data breach involving an unsecured database containing 8.7 billion records tied to individuals and businesses in China. The exposure, discovered in early January 2026, remained accessible for over three weeks before being secured. The leaked dataset included national ID numbers, home addresses, email accounts, social media credentials, and passwords, posing severe risks of identity theft and account takeovers. The records were stored in an Elasticsearch cluster hosted on so-called "bulletproof" infrastructure, suggesting deliberate data aggregation rather than an accidental misconfiguration. While the database has since been closed, experts warn that malicious actors targeting China may have already exfiltrated the data. This incident underscores ongoing vulnerabilities in large-scale data handling, as China has faced multiple high-profile leaks in recent years.