Navalny supporters see their personal information leaked online in ‘enriched’ database

A new database has leaked online containing the personal information of individuals who registered to take part in the upcoming “Freedom for Navalny” protests across Russia. This comes after the protest campaign’s email registration database was stolen and leaked online late last week.

The new database includes the full names, registered addresses, phone numbers, and other personal details of thousands of Navalny supporters whose email addresses were included in the stolen database. 

As reported by TV Rain,  several people who had registered to take part in the opposition protests received emails containing their personal information on the night of April 19. A TV Rain correspondent received an email that included his name, date of birth, and registered address; the sender also threatened to forward a similar email to his employer. Some recipients of these emails said that the messages contained outdated information. 

The Telegram channel Data Leak later reported that two Excel files had appeared online, which contained not only the email addresses of Navalny supporters, but also other personal information. The files have more than 52,000 entries with full names and phone numbers, while more than 112,000 entries have names, dates of birth, home addresses, phone numbers, and places of work and study.

Data Leak administrator Ashot Oganesyan, who is also the founder of the data leak intelligence service DLBI, told the BBC Russian Service that this is a case of “data enrichment.” In other words, the leaked email addresses were likely used to scrape for other personal information that had been leaked online previously, and then all of these details were merged into a single database. 

According to Navalny’s chief of staff Leonid Volkov, the email registration database was stolen by an Anti-Corruption Foundation employee who was recruited by the Russian FSB.

Navalny’s associates announced plans to hold another round of countrywide “Freedom for Navalny!” protests in March, and launched a dedicated website where his supporters could sign up to participate. Though Team Navalny initially planned to disclose the time and date of the rallies after 500,000 people registered with the campaign, on April 18 they announced plans to move forward with the next demonstration.

The protest announcement came against the backdrop of Navalny’s doctors expressing grave concerns about his health as he continues his prison hunger strike. On April 19, prison officials announced that Navalny was being transferred to a prisoners’ hospital.