Shanghai to crack down on information leaks

Local authorities have been asking Shanghai YTO Express about a recent leak of consumer information, the Cyberspace Administration of Shanghai said on Wednesday.

The administration, along with Qingpu District’s public security bureau, commission of commerce and postal administration, has asked the company to establish a data management system as soon as possible.

In July, according to a report, five YTO staff in different areas in north China's Hebei Province rented their employee’s account for 500 yuan a day (US$76) to others, leading to the leak of over 400,000 pieces of consumers' information, including their names, addresses and mobile phone numbers, police in Handan in Hebei said.

The information was sold to swindlers all over the country and Southeast Asia via WeChat and QQ at one yuan for each item, and totalling 1.2 million yuan, police said.

In August, YTO called the police, saying it had detected abnormal activity. A month later, several suspects were arrested.

Last Tuesday, the company apologized for the scandal on Weibo.

However, it was not the first incident  of its kind at YTO and other express companies, such as SF Express.

In 2013, millions of YTO customers’ information was sold on a website, from 0.3 yuan and one yuan for each item.

In 2018, 19 people, including 11 SF Express staff, were sentenced to up to three years in jail over a leak of personal information involving more than 2 million yuan. Over 10 million items of information had been disclosed, a court in central China's Hubei Province said.

On Wednesday, Shanghai's cyberspace administration said it will further crack down on such illegal activity to develop a safe network environment.