Alibaba execs summoned by Shanghai authorities over data theft probe - WSJ

FILE PHOTO: 3D printed clouds and figurines are seen in front of the Alibaba Cloud service logo in this illustration taken February 8, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration

(Reuters) - Executives from Alibaba Group Holdings Ltd's cloud division have been summoned by Shanghai authorities in connection with a theft of police data on Chinese citizens, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.

Based on scans of the police database, cybersecurity researchers concluded that the stolen data of nearly 1 billion Chinese citizens was hosted on Alibaba's cloud platform, according to the report.

Alibaba did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Since the theft was discovered, Alibaba has temporarily disabled all access to the breached database and launched an inspection, the report said.

(Reporting by Yuvraj Malik in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath)