Hackers reportedly hit China for one of the largest data breaches in history

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If this is real, it could be one of the largest data breaches in China’s history.

A hacker group claims it extracted over 10 petabytes of data from a state-run supercomputing facility, widely believed by experts to be the National Supercomputing Center in Tianjin. This center supports thousands of clients, including research institutes, aerospace programs, and defense-linked organizations.

What’s reportedly in the data:
- Documents marked “secret” in Chinese
- Missile and bomb schematics
- Aerospace and aviation research
- Bioinformatics and fusion simulation data
- Files linked to major state entities like AVIC and COMAC

Cybersecurity experts who reviewed sample data say it matches what you would expect from such a facility, though the full breach is not independently verified.

Even more concerning:
- The attacker claims access lasted months without detection
- Sample datasets were posted online via Telegram
- Full access is reportedly being sold for hundreds of thousands of dollars in crypto

At this stage, the scale and origin are still being verified. But if even partially true, it points to a serious vulnerability in infrastructure tied to China’s scientific and defense ecosystem.

If a centralized system like this can be penetrated, what does that say about the security of the data it was processing?

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A hacker has allegedly stolen a massive trove of sensitive data – including highly classified defense documents and missile schematics – from a state-run Chinese supercomputer in what could potentially constitute the largest known heist of data from China.

The dataset, which allegedly contains more than 10 petabytes of sensitive information, is believed by experts to have been obtained from the National Supercomputing Center (NSCC) in Tianjin – a centralized hub that provides infrastructure services for more than 6,000 clients across China, including advanced science and defense agencies.

Cyber experts who have spoken to the alleged hacker and reviewed samples of the stolen data they posted online say they appeared to gain entry to the massive computer with comparative ease and were able to siphon out huge amounts of data over the course of multiple months without being detected.

An account calling itself FlamingChina posted a sample of the alleged dataset on an anonymous Telegram channel on February 6, claiming it contained “research across various fields including aerospace engineering, military research, bioinformatics, fusion simulation and more.”

The group alleges the information is linked to “top organizations” including the Aviation Industry Corporation of China, the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China, and the National University of Defense Technology.

CNN has reached out to China’s Ministry of Science and Technology as well as the Cyberspace Administration of China for comment.

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