TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Ministry of Interior (MOI) on Saturday (Oct. 29) denied being the source of a data leak reportedly posting private details of 200,000 people online.

Media coverage said the information had been found for sale on the BreachForums site Oct. 21, with most of the people affected being residents of Yilan County in northeast Taiwan, the Liberty Times reported. The list included details about the subjects’ education level, and also featured the county commissioner and a legislator from the same region.

The person offering the data for sale said he had obtained the information from the official household registration system, but the MOI denied any similarity, CNA reported. Following an investigation, the MOI said it had concluded the online items could not have come from its household registration data bank.

Its own information was kept completely separate from its public internet network, making it impossible to leak to outsiders, the MOI emphasized, calling on the public and corporations to take good care of their private data.