Iraq’s Ministry of Planning denies census data leak reports

BAGHDAD — Iraq’s Ministry of Planning on Tuesday denied reports circulating on social media alleging a leak of national census data and its sale on the dark web.

In a statement, ministry spokesperson Abdul Zahra al-Hindawi said the ministry “categorically denied the validity of the information circulating on some social media platforms regarding the leakage of general population census data and its sale on what is known as the dark web.”

He added that “all claims about an alleged data breach are completely false,” stressing that there are no “leaked, hacked or stolen census data.”

The ministry said census data is protected by high-level cybersecurity measures and is managed within a closed local network not connected to the internet, “making it impossible to breach.”

It also stated that all tablet devices used during the census were subjected to strict technical procedures, including removal of memory units and repeated reformatting by specialized teams, returning them to factory condition and making data recovery impossible.

The ministry reassured citizens that “their data is fully secured and not available for circulation or breach,” adding that the circulating claims are “misleading information with no basis in reality.”

Rumors that spread on social media a day earlier claimed that Iraq’s population census data, allegedly amounting to about 47.7 million records, had been leaked and offered for sale on a dark web forum for $1,200. The claims were widely shared online but remained unverified.

Iraq conducted its first nationwide census in decades in 2024, a process aimed at improving planning, service delivery and the distribution of resources across governorates.