Modi government finally admits, Aadhaar Details can be hacked
By Prempal Singh
Just how safe are your biometric data? With Aadhaar, you have given your finger prints and iris scans to the government. This plainly gives an individual a ‘unique’ identity. But what if the details of your Aadhaar get leaked out? In the recent, there have been several cases of UID data being compromised with. Although the government has constantly denied any likelihood of a compromise, The brand new American Express published on Friday a report how the NDA government has recognized that personal identity of people, including Aadhaar number and other sensitive information, has been leaked to the general public domain.
A notice authored by the Ministry of Electronics and Info Technology, which the Exhibit claims to have utilized, confirms that data, which the government has recently been cautiously guarding, has recently been leaked online. “There have been instances wherein personal identity or information of residents, including Aadhaar number and demographic information and other sensitive personal data such as bank accounts details etc. collected by various Ministries/Departments… has recently been reportedly published on the web and is accessible through a fairly easy online search, ” Archana Dureja, a scientist in the Ministry of Electronics and Info Technology, wrote on Mar 25.
The official proceeded to go on to include that the leak of information was a serious and punishable offense.
“Publishing information like Aadhaar number along with name, date of delivery, address etc. is a definite contravention of provisions of the Aadhaar Act, 2016 and is punishable by imprisonment of up to three years, ” the letter said.
“The problem parties are liable to pay damages in the form of compensation to people affected. ” The state, through her letter, also directed ministries and says to discontinue any such at ease with immediate effect.
Modi government in denial of the potential threat posed by Aadhaar Card?
Ironically, on Wednesday, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley defended the required use of Aadhaar among the Opposition’s concern over privacy and data security.
After his predecessor, P Chidambaram, raised the disaster related to former cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s Aadhaar details being leaked out, Jaitley replied, “It was a case of an immature behaviour and the company has been penalized for ten years.
“If the firewalls can be damaged and hacking can take place, then hacking will take place anywhere. This is not a floor that hacking happens only because Aadhaar is there, ” Jaitley argued, responding to the finance expenses debate in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.
The financing minister told the Rajya Sabha that the authorities feel there is absolutely no harm in expanding the use of Aadhaar. “The fact that technologies can be breached is no argument to use Aadhaar, ” this individual said.
“Aadhaar was an instrument to service. It was never intended to label it to income taxes and bank accounts. Keep in mind, Pentagon has been hacked. What is the assurance you have to stop hacking of bank medical data and Aadhaar accounts?” Chidambaram asked.
Jaitley managed that the only way to avoid hacking is to strengthen the firewalls. “Technology always is a learning experience, ” he added.
On March 5 the Ministry of Electronics and IT issued a declaration assuring that personal data of individuals held by UIDAI is fully safe and sound.
With over a billion Indians having an Aadhaar card in 2017, data theft concern can turn into a mammoth crisis for Modi government that has recently been aggressively pushing for the adoption of services and platforms and for the citizens who have connected their bank accounts and other sensitive information with it.
Source: business-standard.com