Star Health Hacker Claims Sending Death Threats, Bullets to Executives

The hacker known as 'xenZen' who leaked 7.24 terabytes of sensitive personal data of over 31 million customers from India’s largest health insurer, Star Health and Allied Insurance, has claimed responsibility for sending death threats and bullet cartridges to the insurer's CEO Anand Roy and CFO Nilesh Kambli. The threats, accompanied by packages sent to Star Health's Chennai headquarters, included notes warning of further violence and were reportedly motivated by the company’s denial of medical claims to certain customers. This revelation was detailed in a March 31 email to Reuters, with photographic evidence of the packages addressed to the executives. Star Health has refrained from commenting due to an ongoing criminal investigation, while local police are actively investigating the matter, including the arrest of a man allegedly involved in couriering the threat packages. The insurer had earlier filed a lawsuit against xenZen and the messaging platform Telegram for distributing the stolen data through chatbots, which have since been taken down. The hacker also indicated they were seeking buyers for the stolen data, intensifying concerns over data security and customer privacy in the Indian health insurance sector.