The personal details of nearly 1.5 million pensioners of Jharkhand, including Aadhaar card details, bank account details, and more, have been made public on a state website of social security.
The personal details of nearly 1.5 million pensioners of Jharkhand, including Aadhaar card details, bank account details, and more, have been made public on a state website of social security.
According to a report by the Hindustan Times, a programming error has made public the personal details and sensitive information of over 1 million pensioners.
The report says there are about 1.6 million pensioners in the state and 1.4 million have linked their bank account with their Aadhaar numbers to get direct benefits of subsidies.
Surprisingly, the officials of the Jharkhand government were non-chalant when the publication's reporters approached them. They said, they were aware of the breach since a week and were working to fix it.
This isn't the first time personal data of the general public has been made available online due to a technical glitch. Earlier this year, the website of a Central ministry had several Excel sheets with the details of thousands of minors who had shared their personal data, including name, address, bank account numbers, name & address of the university, roll numbers, course, and PAN card and Aadhaar number, available to the public through a simple Google search. The documents were later taken down after several news reports carried the data breach. Read the full story here - Is your personal data like Aadhaar, PAN card safe with the government?
However, a data breach of this level (over 1 million users) brings back the question that has remained unanswered or evaded by the government so far. Is it equipped to keep the personal and biometric data of users safe? So far, the answer, despite Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Broadcasting and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad saying otherwise, seems like a 'no'.
The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) recently said that it had blacklisted 35,000 agencies for not maintaining standards. The Minister said the agencies were blacklisted for "polluting" the UIDAI ecosystem. In fact, the government claims it has blacklisted 1,000 operators since December 2016, and one more for making the personal details and Aadhaar number of former Indian Cricket Team captain MS Dhoni public on Twitter.
This week, the Supreme Court questioned the government about making the Aadhaar card mandatory for social schemes when its previous order had clearly stated that it was supposed to be voluntary and not compulsory.
In a bid to make the Aadhaar card a single identification proof, the government has extended its use to getting a driving licence, filing income tax returns, linking it to the PAN card to extend its validity, to get a new PAN card, to continue with the existing mobile connection, and more.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
 "Image for representational purposes only.")
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}