The hacking group Silent Crow has claimed responsibility for breaching Russia's Federal Service for State Registration, Cadastre, and Cartography (Rosreestr), releasing what it describes as a fragment of the agency’s database. The leak reportedly includes sensitive personal information of Russian citizens, raising significant cybersecurity and privacy concerns.

According to the Telegram channel Information Leaks, which first reported the incident, the exposed data set contains nearly 82,000 records. These records reportedly include:

Silent Crow shared details of the breach via its anonymous Telegram channel on January 6, 2025, claiming the leaked data includes approximately 90,000 entries from Russia's Unified State Register of Real Estate.

Journalist Andrey Zakharov examined 15 randomly selected entries from the leaked data and confirmed their authenticity. In several cases, the leaked property addresses matched individuals' known residences. However, the dataset notably omits cadastral numbers, which could directly link properties to their owners. Zakharov suggested this omission may have been intentional to conceal the full extent of the breach.

Rosreestr has not officially acknowledged the breach, stating only that "additional checks" are underway regarding the circulating reports on Telegram. No formal confirmation or denial has been issued as of now.

Rosreestr’s real estate data has historically been instrumental for journalists and independent investigators uncovering corruption. Investigations led by the late Alexey Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) frequently utilized Rosreestr records to expose properties owned by government officials, often purchased far beyond their declared incomes.

In response to these investigations, the Russian government restricted access to property ownership data. In March 2023, Rosreestr implemented stricter privacy controls under a personal data law passed in July 2022, allowing property owner information to be disclosed only with the owner's consent.

The Rosreestr breach highlights severe vulnerabilities in the cybersecurity infrastructure of large state agencies. Silent Crow’s statement emphasized this, stating, “Rosreestr has become a vivid example of how large state structures can fall in just a few days.” The leak raises serious concerns about the protection of sensitive government data and the potential misuse of this information.

As cybersecurity threats escalate globally, this incident underscores the urgent need for robust security measures within government databases to safeguard citizen data against malicious actors.