Major Aadhaar data leak plugged: French security researcher
5 years, 9 months ago

Major Aadhaar data leak plugged: French security researcher

The Hindu  

The Indian cyber security machinery, in collaboration with a self-proclaimed anonymous French security researcher who has been vocal about data security through his Twitter account, claimed to have plugged a major data leak over the course of the last nine days. The researcher, who goes by the display name Elliot Alderson on Twitter, had on March 10 tweeted that two “Indian governmental websites” were leaking “300,000 and 5,000 documents IDs including Aadhaar cards.” “Contact me by DM for the details and to give me the opportunity to disclose the issue responsibly. Highly placed sources said the matter was discussed at the highest levels of the Indian government, after which contact was established with Alderson to begin a top secret operation to identify and plug the leaks. On Monday, Alderson once again tweeted saying, “Thanks to all the people involved, the issue has been fixed and the personal documents of 305,000 has been secured.” Alderson has been critical of Aadhaar, saying it is a security risk to store all the personal details of Indians in a common server.

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History of this topic

Hackers selling 1.80 terabyte data of 750 million Indian mobile consumers on dark web: Report
11 months, 1 week ago

Hackers selling 1.80 terabyte data of 750 million Indian mobile consumers on dark web: Report

India TV News  

The Department of Telecom has instructed telecom service operators to conduct a security audit of their systems in response to claims by cybersecurity firm CloudSEK that data on 750 million Indian subscribers has been leaked, according to a government official. CloudSEK reported that hackers are selling a 1.8-terabyte database comprising details of 750 million Indian mobile consumers on the dark …

U.S. cyber security firm indicates data breach sourced from ICMR
1 year, 2 months ago

U.S. cyber security firm indicates data breach sourced from ICMR

The Hindu  

The Central Government is yet to respond to reports about the American cyber security and intelligence agency Resecurity’s alert on the alleged data leak of over 81 crore Indians Aadhaar and passport information along with names, phone numbers and addresses with the Indian Council of Medical Research. ICMR has faced multiple cyber-attack attempts since February, and the latest alleged breach …

Government rebuffs Moody’s Aadhaar views; says a billion Indians trust it
1 year, 3 months ago

Government rebuffs Moody’s Aadhaar views; says a billion Indians trust it

The Hindu  

The Electronics and IT Ministry late on September 25 took on a report from Moody’s Investors Service that raised questions about the efficacy of Aadhaar and asserted that there have been no breaches reported from the unique ID system’s database till date to dismiss concerns about security and privacy in a centralised system. In a note titled “Aadhaar, the most …

Indians raise concerns over data compromises by govt and telcos: Report
1 year, 5 months ago

Indians raise concerns over data compromises by govt and telcos: Report

India TV News  

Ahead of the expected tabling of the Digital Personal Data Protection bill in Parliament on August 3, a new report highlights the concerns of Indian citizens regarding data breaches. Among those who believed their personal data had been leaked, 72% mentioned their mobile numbers, 63% cited email addresses, 53% referred to Aadhaar numbers, and 50% indicated PAN card numbers. Regarding …

Explained | What does the alleged CoWIN data leak reveal?
1 year, 6 months ago

Explained | What does the alleged CoWIN data leak reveal?

The Hindu  

The story so far: On June 12, reports emerged that a bot on the messaging platform Telegram was allegedly returning personal data of Indian citizens who registered with the COVID-19 vaccine intelligence network portal for vaccination purposes. On the same day, the Health Ministry denied reports of a data breach, and said the allegations were “mischievous in nature.” It added …

DC Edit | CoWIN data leak breach of trust, must be probed
1 year, 6 months ago

DC Edit | CoWIN data leak breach of trust, must be probed

Deccan Chronicle  

Media reports of a purported breach of crucial data of most, if not all the, beneficiaries, meaning most of the Indians citizens who got vaccinated for Covid, or nearly a billion-odd people, are not only unfortunate if found to be true, but also raise a serious issue concerning the trust of all citizens sharing any data with the government across …

CoWIN data leak | No CERT-in update yet; experts demand transparency
1 year, 6 months ago

CoWIN data leak | No CERT-in update yet; experts demand transparency

The Hindu  

The Indian Computer Emergency Team, the nodal cybersecurity agency that deals with incidents like breaches and vulnerabilities in cyberspace, has not directly put out any update on its assessment of the apparent breach of personal information of people who received vaccinations, registered on the Union government’s CoWIN platform. The only information from CERT-in so far comes from Minister of State …

Personal info of those vaccinated leaked from CoWIN portal, claim opposition leaders
1 year, 6 months ago

Personal info of those vaccinated leaked from CoWIN portal, claim opposition leaders

India Today  

Trinamool Congress spokesperson Saket Gokhale on Monday took to Twitter to allege a "major privacy breach by the Modi government" through the Covid-19 vaccination app CoWIN, claiming that "personal details of all vaccinated Indians have been leaked and are freely available". The list of such opposition leaders, according to his tweet, included Rajya Sabha MP and TMC Leader Derek O'Brien, …

Exclusive | Didn't breach CoWIN, exploited linked platform's holes, says hacker behind data leak row
1 year, 6 months ago

Exclusive | Didn't breach CoWIN, exploited linked platform's holes, says hacker behind data leak row

India Today  

The anonymous person who ran the Telegram bot that generated personal details of vaccinated individuals said that they did not breach the CoWIN platform, which was used for Covid-19 vaccination registration, run by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. India Today’s Open Source Investigations team managed to identify the actors behind the data leak based on the digital trail …

No breach in Aadhaar data vault till now, must be cautious: Centre in Rajya Sabha
2 years, 5 months ago

No breach in Aadhaar data vault till now, must be cautious: Centre in Rajya Sabha

Hindustan Times  

There has been no breach of Unique Identification Authority of India’s Aadhaar data vault, Union minister of electronics and information technology Ashwini Vaishnaw said in Rajya Sabha on Monday. Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw was responding to questions raised by CPI MP Binoy Viswam on whether the Centre has considered the recent CAG report that questioned the encryption method and procedure …

UIDAI looking for 20 hackers to spot bugs in security system storing billions of Aadhaar data
2 years, 5 months ago

UIDAI looking for 20 hackers to spot bugs in security system storing billions of Aadhaar data

India Today  

The Unique Identification Authority of India is looking for 20 top hackers to help find vulnerabilities in its security system, which protects the Aadhaar data of 1.32 billion Indians. The 20 selected individual hackers will be given the chance to study the UIDAI’s Central Identities Data Repository, which stores Aadhaar data of 1.32 billion Indians. The order stated that “the …

UIDAI Calls For 20 Top Hackers to Smoke Out Any Bugs in Aadhaar Data Security - News18
2 years, 5 months ago

UIDAI Calls For 20 Top Hackers to Smoke Out Any Bugs in Aadhaar Data Security - News18

News 18  

The Unique Identification Authority of India has called out for 20 top hackers to figure out any vulnerabilities in its security system that guards the Aadhaar data of 1.32 billion Indians, and has called it a “bug bounty programme”. Terms and conditions 20 individual hackers or groups would be given a chance to study the UIDAI’s Central Identities Data Repository …

PM-Kisan website found leaking Aadhaar data of over 110 million Indian farmers
2 years, 6 months ago

PM-Kisan website found leaking Aadhaar data of over 110 million Indian farmers

India Today  

The website of PM-Kisan, short for Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi, was leaking the Aadhaar data of over 110 million farmers, a security researcher said. In his post on Medium, Atul Nair said that the dashboard feature of the PM-Kisan website has an endpoint that was exposing Aadhaar numbers of all the farmers based on region. Nair, a security researcher …

UIDAI takes note of close to 100 Aadhaar-related FIRs
2 years, 7 months ago

UIDAI takes note of close to 100 Aadhaar-related FIRs

Hindustan Times  

Although nearly a hundred police complaints related to Aadhaar numbers between 2018 and 2021 have been brought to the notice of the Unique Identification Authority of India by law enforcement agencies, a much larger number of cases remain unreported, according to officials familiar with the matter. The cases include Aadhaar numbers being compromised, Pakistani citizens acquiring the unique numbers meant …

DC Edit | Volte-face and quick fixes can’t protect Indians’ data
2 years, 7 months ago

DC Edit | Volte-face and quick fixes can’t protect Indians’ data

Deccan Chronicle  

The confusing communications from the Union government on Aadhaar or the unique identification number, and the angst and disquiet these caused to the people, are the result of the ad hoc approach it has taken to the implementation of the whole project since its very inception. Recently, it withdrew a notification asking Aadhaar card holders not to share the number …

Questions remain on the Aadhaar flip-flop
2 years, 7 months ago

Questions remain on the Aadhaar flip-flop

Hindustan Times  

Over the weekend, the government issued and withdrew an advisory cautioning people on sharing their full Aadhaar numbers in a hard copy with “unlicensed” organisations. Aadhaar cardholders, the second statement said, are “only advised to exercise normal prudence”. The likelihood of being asked for a photocopy of an Aadhaar — instead of being verified via an OTP or a fingerprint …

CBSE Uses Blockchain To Go Paperless, But Will Other Govt Arms Follow Suit?
3 years, 3 months ago

CBSE Uses Blockchain To Go Paperless, But Will Other Govt Arms Follow Suit?

The Quint  

Blockchain provides tamper-proof data storage and management that would help the Indian government to store data safely on a blockchain network without being worried about any possible data leak by any insider or an intruder outside the organisation. Shedding light on the applicability of the tech, Horn told The Quint that Blockchain use cases can range from privacy-protecting proof of …

Air India data breach: Personal info of 45 lakh people leaked due to 'sophisticated cyberattack'
3 years, 7 months ago

Air India data breach: Personal info of 45 lakh people leaked due to 'sophisticated cyberattack'

India Today  

A massive breach in Air India's server this February led to compromising personal data of nearly 45,00,000 people worldwide. The massive data leak was caused by a "sophisticated cyberattack" on Air India's passenger service system provider SITA. "While we and our data processor continue to take remedial actions.We would also encourage passengers to change passwords wherever applicable to ensure safety …

Facebook data leak: Personal details of over 61 lakh Indians on sale by hackers
3 years, 9 months ago

Facebook data leak: Personal details of over 61 lakh Indians on sale by hackers

Op India  

A massive data dump of 533 million global Facebook users has been leaked and making rounds on hacker forums. As per the posts by threat actors who leaked the data, it contains user names, birthdays, phone numbers, users’ unique identifiers, emails, relationship statuses, occupation, account creation dates and more. Though he could not find data of anyone from his family, …

Facebook data leak includes personal info of 6 million users in India, the story so far
3 years, 9 months ago

Facebook data leak includes personal info of 6 million users in India, the story so far

India Today  

The latest Facebook data breach is claimed to have leaked the personal data of over 533 million users globally. In a country-wise breakup, the claimed data breach reportedly includes the personal information of 6 million users in India. Alon Gal, CTO of cybercrime intelligence firm Hudson Rock, posted information around the data breach that is said to have leaked data …

Probe if BJP used Aadhaar data for polls: HC to UIDAI
3 years, 9 months ago

Probe if BJP used Aadhaar data for polls: HC to UIDAI

Hindustan Times  

The Madras high court on Thursday directed the Unique Identification Authority of India to probe whether the Puducherry unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party used Aadhaar data to send bulk text messages for election campaigning. The court also said that the Election Commission of India should continue its examination on whether the model code of conduct was breached by the …

Today’s cache | Security issue in Aarogya Setu app, and more
4 years, 8 months ago

Today’s cache | Security issue in Aarogya Setu app, and more

The Hindu  

India’s Aarogya Setu app has been flagged for security issue that will put data of 90 million Indians at risk, a cybersecurity expert says. Hacker finds security issue in Aarogya Setu App A French cybersecurity expert and ethical hacker, who goes by the name ‘Elliot Alderson,’ flagged security issues within the Aarogya Setu app. The team has also denied that …

Coronavirus Outbreak: Aarogya Setu team says 'no user data at risk' after French hacker raises concerns over 'security of 90 million Indians'
4 years, 8 months ago

Coronavirus Outbreak: Aarogya Setu team says 'no user data at risk' after French hacker raises concerns over 'security of 90 million Indians'

Firstpost  

The official handle of Aarogya Setu contact-tracing app, developed by the National Informatics Centre, under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, asserted late on Tuesday that “no personal information of any user has been proven to be at risk”. The official handle of the Aarogya Setu contact-tracing app, developed by the National Informatics Centre, under the Ministry of Electronics …

For a data firewall: The Hindu Editorial on need for a data protection law
4 years, 11 months ago

For a data firewall: The Hindu Editorial on need for a data protection law

The Hindu  

The report by a German cybersecurity firm that medical details of millions of Indian patients were leaked and are freely available on the Internet is worrying. Such information has the potential to be mined for deeper data analysis and for creating profiles that could be used for social engineering, phishing and online identity theft, among other practices that thrive on …

No breach of Aadhaar servers in IT Grids’ case: UIDAI
5 years, 8 months ago

No breach of Aadhaar servers in IT Grids’ case: UIDAI

Live Mint  

The Unique Identification Authority of India said Wednesday there is no evidence of breach of its servers in the recent case where private firm IT Grids was accused of obtaining details of 7.82 crore Aadhaar holders in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. "Nowhere in the report, the SIT has found any evidence to show that the Aadhaar number, name, address, etc., …

IT Grids Aadhaar data leak: UIDAI’s implicit acknowledgement of a large-scale data breach will be very welcome to anti-Aadhaar activists
5 years, 8 months ago

IT Grids Aadhaar data leak: UIDAI’s implicit acknowledgement of a large-scale data breach will be very welcome to anti-Aadhaar activists

Firstpost  

The increased focus on social media and technology as an enabler for the current elections meant that it was only a matter of time before reports of misuse of data for political purposes arose. The current report of finding 7.8 crore Aadhaar data records with IT Grids Pvt Ltd, which were for use in the Seva Mitra app, however, are …

Aadhaar data leak: Details of 7.82 cr Indians from AP and Telangana found on IT Grids' database
5 years, 8 months ago

Aadhaar data leak: Details of 7.82 cr Indians from AP and Telangana found on IT Grids' database

Firstpost  

There have been around 30 FIRs that have been filed by the UIDAI since the introduction of the Aadhaar Act 2016. The Telangana State Forensic Science Laboratory discovered this during its examination of the data recovered by the Telangana police from the premises of IT Grids Pvt Ltd, on the suspicion of breach of voter ID and Aadhaar data according …

6mn Aadhaar Numbers Leaked By Gas PSU: Indian Oil Says ‘No Leak’
5 years, 10 months ago

6mn Aadhaar Numbers Leaked By Gas PSU: Indian Oil Says ‘No Leak’

The Quint  

Nearly 6 million Aadhaar numbers have been leaked through a vulnerability on the Indane website meant for dealers and distributors, a French ‘ethical hacker’ who goes by the name Elliot Alderson claimed on Twitter. The Indane portal reportedly exposes the names, Aadhaar numbers and addresses of the customers. Indian Oil Corp responded to the allegations on Twitter, saying that “leakage …

Internet data firms stirring up Aadhaar privacy debate, suspects TRAI chief
5 years, 10 months ago

Internet data firms stirring up Aadhaar privacy debate, suspects TRAI chief

India TV News  

Internet companies that have built their businesses using public data are likely to have created privacy threat debate around the country's unique digital ID Aadhaar, Trai Chairman RS Sharma said on Monday. "My suspicion, I will have to prove that, but based on circumstantial evidence, we think that many of data companies are behind Aadhaar issue. "Because of fundamentally different …

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