Hawks probing Viewfines leak
South Africa was hit by another massive data leak in May, with close to one million records published online.
The Hawks has confirmed it is investigating the latest data leak of what is believed to be the personal details of close to one million motorists.
More than 934 000 records were published online, including around 778 000 unique email addresses, believed to belong to motorists who have registered with Viewfines.
The online traffic fine service Viewfines.co.za has been implicated in the leak.
While the company has so far been unable to confirm how the information got out, administrator Stephen Birkholtz told Jacaranda FM News on Friday, "it does look like it is from Viewfines".
The Hawks took note of the leak on Wednesday and immediately approached the State Security Agency, said Hangwani Mulaudzi, spokesperson for the unit.
"There are still meetings that need to be held with the entity and other law enforcement agencies," explained Mulaudzi, adding, it is at this stage still an "inquiry".
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It is unclear who managed to access the leaked database while it was published on the public web.
But Viewfines.co.za has temporarily shut down its website while an investigation unfolds.
Birkholtz also said they have changed the passwords and stored them in an encrypted file.