Wednesday, 3 January 2018

Aadhaar breach: Rs 500 is all it takes to get details of a billion Indians

A report claims to have bought access to a cheap software, which can be used to print the Aadhaar card of any individual

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Anonymous sellers on Whatsapp are said to be providing 'unrestricted' access to the Aadhaar details of more than a billion Indians for just Rs 500, according to an investigation by The Tribune on Wednesday. The paper also claims to have bought access to a software for Rs 300, which can be used to print the Aadhaar card of any individual by entering their Aadhaar number.

Aadhaar is a 12-digit unique identification number that is issued by the UIDAI( Unique Identity Development Authority of India) to every resident Indian citizen, after recording biometric and demographic information about an individual.

The report says that the racket may have started when over 300,000 Village Level Operators(VLEs), earlier mandated to make Aadhaar cards across India were rendered jobless when post offices and banks were given the job instead, in November 2017. Over 100,000 VLEs, sensing an opportunity to make easy money, might have gained illegal access to UIDAI data and provided “Aadhaar services” to common people for a charge, including the printing of Aadhaar cards.

If true, this would spell a serious breach of national security as the UIDAI has linked Aadhaar to individuals' fingerprints and iris scans. The government's unfettered access to citizens biometric details has already been in the centre of much debate in the civil society.....

Read more : Aadhar data breach


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