Aadhaar Access Of 5000 Officials Blocked by Govt; Are Hackers Targeting UIDAI Database?
Aadhaar access of 5000 officials has been terminated with immediate effect, and a new process has been created for accessing Aadhaar info.
Within days of The Tribune highlighting security flaws of Aadhaar system, massive action has been triggered to safeguard the data.
Aadhaar access of 5000 officials has been terminated with immediate effect, and a new process has been created for accessing Aadhaar info.
Meanwhile, a RBI report indicates that hackers’ only aim right now is to get into UIDAI servers and steal data.
Aadhaar Safety: Access Of 5000 Officials Restricted
On January 4th, The Tribune published a sting operation, wherein their journalist was able to ‘buy’ Aadhaar data for mere Rs 500. This triggered a chain of reactions, counter-allegations and even FIR against the journalist who carried this sting operation and authored the story.
As part of the drive to secure Aadhaar data, access of 5000 Govt officials from UIDAI has been terminated and restricted.
A top Govt. official said, “All the privileges given to designated officers for access have been immediately withdrawn,”
These officials had been provided access of UIDAI database so that they can edit the name, age, sex, address etc details of any person, by simply entering the 12 digit Aadhaar number.
However now, this access would be only provided when the person authenticates via fingerprint.
As per Govt officials, this will no doubt consume more time, as around 5,00,000 requests to edit Aadhaar details are received daily. But, this system is more secure and safe, compared to granting access to Govt officials.
Meanwhile, Govt. has instructed UIDAI to work with Tribune reporters, and to find out how data leak happened.
RBI Report: Cyber Criminals Are Targeting Aadhaar
Meanwhile, a report has been published by RBI, which states that Aadhaar has vulnerabilities related to security, and hackers now have a single target: To get into the system.
The report, written by S Ananth, who is an adjunct faculty at the Institute for Development and Research in Banking Technology (IDRBT), and was published by RBI in the month of October.
The paper stated: “Thanks to Aadhaar, for the first time in the history of India, there is now a readily available single target for cyber criminals as well as India’s external enemies,”
The report highlights the earlier cases of Aadhaar data breach, and informs the Govt. to enable more security and safety of the database.
We will keep you updated as we receive more information.
