Are the data of 27 million Uzbeks at risk? A sensational ultimatum has been issued

1 November 2026, 11:27·78·Technology

An unprecedented and alarming report has spread within Uzbekistan's information technology and cybersecurity community. On a page hosted on a special ".onion" domain in the darknet, a hacker group calling itself "BUTTERFLY" announced that it had breached the closed database of the Agency for Personalization under the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

In their claims, the hackers asserted that they had obtained the full personal data of over 27 million citizens and started a countdown timer on the page.

What data do the hackers claim to have obtained?

According to the published information, the database contains records of 27,174,051 citizens. The group stated that they acquired this dataset as a result of attempts that lasted for more than a year:

Full Name and Date of Birth: Full names of citizens, as well as their day, month, and year of birth;
PINFL and Passport Details: Personal identification numbers and passport series and numbers;
Residential Address and Phone Numbers: Permanent registration addresses and contact numbers;
Biometric Photos: Personal photographs of citizens from the database.

Minister Sherzod Shermatov's data shown as "proof"

To "prove" their claims, the hacking group stated that they would not leak a large volume of data, as a single sample would suffice.

As an open sample on the page, the full name, date of birth (07.04.1977), PINFL number, and phone number of the Minister of Digital Technologies of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Sherzod Khotamovich Shermatov, were posted.

48-hour ultimatum and the risk of open sale

In their message, the "BUTTERFLY" group set strict demands and a deadline for the parties:

48-hour timeframe: The hackers set a 48-hour deadline to prevent the distribution of the archive, and a countdown timer is running on the page;
Open auction: It was stated that if their conditions are not met within the specified time, the personal database of over 27 million citizens will be sold to the highest bidder on the darknet or put up for open sale.

As of now, there has been no official statement from the relevant government agencies or the "Cybersecurity Center" regarding how close this information is to the truth, or whether the database actually leaked from the Agency for Personalization or belongs to another source.