New Delhi: Delhi Police has filed an FIR on a complaint from Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) reporting a massive breach of sensitive data from their critical information infrastructure and protected systems like Icegate, etc.The data was sold online and further put on sale by around 70 portals. CBIC officials, as part of their investigation, bought the data and found them to be authentic, matching their database information. The complaint was subsequently filed by a joint director of CBIC.Police are learnt to be probing an “insider hand”, besides an economic espionage angle, sources said. The role of a disgruntled customs official is under the scanner and several people have been questioned.The FIR reveals that highly sensitive trade data, including pricing, supplier relationships and sourcing patterns, was illegally extracted and put up for commercial sale online by dozens of entities across the globe.The breach targets protected systems declared as critical information infrastructure under IT Act, specifically the ICEGATE and ECCS portals used by importers and exporters to file official documents.According to the FIR, investigators identified 70 websites spanning Indian, Chinese, and other international jurisdictions that were purportedly monetising this stolen govt data.To verify the authenticity of the leak, CBIC officials conducted a “clandestine exercise” where they created undercover accounts and bought sample datasets from several platforms.The analysis confirmed that while the data format headers had been altered, the actual contents perfectly matched official govt records. Authorities have warned that the dissemination of this “economic intelligence” allows competitors to undercut Indian exporters, distorts fair market discovery and poses a systemic risk to national economic security.The case has been registered under several stringent provisions, including Section 135A of Customs Act for the unauthorised disclosure of information and multiple sections of Information Technology Act, 2000.Police have also invoked sections 318(4) and 61(2) of Bharatiya Nyaya Samhita to investigate the criminal conspiracy and the wrongful loss caused to the state.Given the sensitivity of the breach, officers refused to divulge details. The investigation focuses on tracing financial trails, identifying data exfiltration vectors and examining the role of any internal vendor or contractor, sources said.
