Friday 12 January 2018

Activists want Aadhaar data deletion from service providers’ data centres

The war of Aadhaar is just not stopping. Every day, something new comes up. Now the activists fighting for the privacy cause want all Aadhaar data to be deleted from service providers’ data centres. They are supported by lawyers and cybersecurity experts.


Recently, UIDAI announced that it will introduce the 16-digit virtual ID to do away the need of telling Aadhaar number to anyone.

Cybersecurity experts have warned that there should be an audit to ensure that all 'financially sensitive information that could be vulnerable to fraud, including the Aadhaar number are erased.' To prevent instances like that of Airtel storing customer information, cybersecurity experts say that the 16-digit virtual ID should be modelled along the lines of UPI to ensure financial safety.

Ramesh Kumar, cyber law expert, said: “Aadhaar card details, which are currently stored in their servers might continue to remain with them. And the sad thing is — law-abiding citizens, who decided to give their Aadhaar numbers everywhere to everyone, much before the deadline of March 31, 2018 —will now be at risk. They have already given their Aadhaar information everywhere and there is no law mandating that storage of such information is illegal - so at any time their details can be compromised. Even the new system of virtual ID works no different from a ATM PIN or M-PIN, it is vulnerable to hacking."

According to Gopal Krishnan, activist, Citizens Forum for Civil Liberties, "It’s a case of fire-fighting and disaster management. Apart from the recent Tribune report, which highlights vulnerabilities, remember there were 2 crore Aadhaar card details exposed in May 2017. Was the government, UIDAI or any of the service providers held liable? Were we citizens able to sue, ask for damages for the loss of data, identity theft? Even today, the introduction of the 16-digit virtual PIN is an admission of compromised security."

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