Massive Data Breach Hits India as ID Card Number, Private Details Leaked Online
NEW DEHLI– Indian citizens have suffered violations of their personal data as their private information was available on the messaging platform Telegram, including the details of high-profile legislators of the country, with Trinamool Congress claiming that the Modi government is unaware of this big data breach.
According to Indian media reports, the information includes the citizens’ Adhaar Card number, ID card used for vaccination, gender, birth year, name of the vaccination centre, voter ID, and PAN card numbers.
According to a report by Malayala Manorama Monday, the data leak happened because of the CoWIN portal — the COVID vaccination portal in which citizens registered their details.
The report noted that when a mobile number — registered with the CoWIN portal — is entered, the Telegram bot discloses data which becomes accessible to anyone on the platform.
The News Minute report suggested that the details of several politicians such as Telangana’s Minister of Information and Communication Technology Kalvakuntla Taraka Rama Rao, DMK Member of Lok Sabha Kanimozhi Karunanidhi, BJP Tamil Nadu President K Annamalai, Congress Member of Lok Sabha Karti Chidambaram, and Former Union Minister of Health Harsh Vardhan of the BJP, were easily available.
A tweet by All India Trinamool Congress spokesperson Saket Gokhale revealed the details of Rajya Sabha MP and TMC leader Dered O’Brien, former Union Minister P Chidambaram, Congress leaders Jairam Ramesh and K C Venugopal, journalists Rajdeep Sardesai (India Today) and Barkha Dutt (Mojo Story), have also been leaked in a similar way.
Gokhale took to Twitter to write, “There has been a MAJOR data breach of Modi Govt where personal details of ALL vaccinated Indians including their mobile nos., Aadhaar numbers, Passport numbers, Voter ID, Details of family members etc. have been leaked & are freely available.”
When the phone number of Rajesh Bhushan, the Union Secretary to the Ministry of Health, was entered on the Telegram bot, the details along with his wife’s details, who is an MLA from the Kotdwar Constituency in Uttarakhand, were revealed, reported Malayala Manorama.
SOURCE: GEO NEWS
