GoKawiilResearcher recounts 2020 discovery of Brazil federal data breach exposing 200 million citizens
A security researcher describes finding a vulnerability in 2020 that granted access to a Brazilian federal system containing near-complete personal records for over 200 million citizens, including IDs, addresses, family details and witness-protection status. The researcher reported the flaw directly to the responsible agency by phone, which was initially skeptical before confirming and fixing the issue quickly without extracting any data.