Home technology The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) dismisses reports of breach in Aadhaar database, says system secure

The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) dismisses reports of breach in Aadhaar database, says system secure

By rahul

Posted on March 24, 2018

7 min read

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The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) dismisses reports of breach in Aadhaar database, says system secure

The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) on Saturday dismissed reports of any breach in its Aadhaar database, the Unique Identification Authority of India on Saturday maintained that biometric ID programme remains “safe and secure”. “There is no truth in this story as there has been absolutely no breach of UIDAI’s Aadhaar database,” the UIDAI clarified.

The UIDAI response came hours after ZDNet, an online portal, reported that a data leak on a system run by a state-owned utility company can allow access to private information of Aadhaar holders, exposing their names, their unique 12-digit identity numbers, and their bank details.

While withholding the name of the utility and other details, the report said the security lapse remains to be fixed despite being flagged to some government agencies over a period of time. The report also quoted Karan Saini, a New Delhi-based security researcher, as saying that anyone with an Aadhaar number was affected.

Refuting reports of a breach in Aadhaar database, the Unique Identification Authority of India on Saturday maintained that biometric ID programme remains “safe and secure”. “There is no truth in this story as there has been absolutely no breach of UIDAI’s Aadhaar database,” the UIDAI clarified.

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Going by the logic of the report, since the utility company’s database also had bank account numbers of its customers, would bank databases also be considered to have been breached, UIDAI questioned.

“The answer would obviously be in negative,” it added.

UIDAI argued that mere availability of Aadhaar number with a third person “will not be a security threat to the Aadhaar holder” nor will it lead to financial or other fraud. This is because a transaction is contingent upon a successful authentication through fingerprint, Iris or OTP of the Aadhaar holder, UIDAI said.

The report of the alleged security lapse comes at a time when Constitutional bench of the Supreme Court is hearing a clutch of petitions challenging the Aadhaar Act and the use of a biometric identifier in various government and non-government services.

Earlier this week, UIDAI CEO Ajay Bhushan Pandey had made a powerpoint presentation in the Supreme Court to defend the government’s ambitious Aadhaar scheme. He had said that breaking Aadhaar encryption may take “more than the age of the universe for the fastest computer on earth.