Yle has stated that the list of Finnish names found in the Chinese data leak corresponds to the list in the US database.
799 names were released among about 2.4 million others in mid-September as part of a massive international data leak. The list has been compiled by Zhenhua Data, which is affiliated with the Chinese government. It was received by an American professor who had worked in China, Christopher Balding. He handed it over to Australian cybersecurity company Internet 2.0, which released it.
On Monday, Yle revealed that the list matches one of the databases of U.S. financial news and information company Dow Jones.
The company that owns the Wall Street Journal, Barron, and other publications is a subsidiary of News Corp., founded by a media mogul. Rupert Murdoch.
Yle’s research shows that the Finnish material was primarily copied from a US database.
Zhenhua Data referred to its Oversea Key Information Database (OKIDB). According to some news reports, it demonstrated Chinaโs ability to identify and track key figures around the world.
The database contains information about influential individuals and their partners, including tens of thousands in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia.
Government ministers and officers
Yle has seen a list of Finns divided into three categories – in exactly the same way as in the Dow Jones database.
Of the Finnish names, 250 have been named ‘Politically Exposed Person’. These include politicians, including some current cabinet ministers, and other influential figures in society.
Twenty-one others are marked “Special Interest Person”. Many of these are well-known criminals convicted of officers and drugs.
Most Finns, 523, are named as relatives or close ones.
Yle has confirmed that not only one of the Finns on the Zhenhua list is also in the Dow Jones database. One difference may be due to the fact that the Chinese data is based on an older version of the Dow Jones database.
Data on Finns were probably copied at the end of 2017 based on timestamps and the dates of the linked material.
Source: The Nordic Page