Personal details of thousands of people wanting to travel to Britain was online, unsecured and available to anyone who simply altered a website address.
LONDON: A Channel 4 report that personal data of Indian citizens applying for British visa in India may have been compromised due to flaws in the online application system there has prompted an investigation here.
The report, broadcast on Thursday evening, said that a security flaw in internet visa applications to the British High Commission in India meant the details of 50,000 people may have been freely available online. It was a potential treasure trove for identity thieves and terrorists, the report said.
Soon after the report was broadcast, the Conservative party criticised the government for what it called the “Indian visa fiasco”, and alleged that it showed that the Labour government was incapable of running the identity card project that is expected to be rolled out in the near future.
Damien Green, shadow immigration minister, told IANS: “This is yet another IT shambles from the government with serious implications for security. These details could be used by terrorists to enter the country illegally.
According to the report, the personal details of thousands of people wanting to travel to Britain was online, unsecured and available to anyone who simply altered a website address.
Nearly 50,000 of them applied online, including one Sanjib Mitra from Bangalore. In April last year, he had trouble with his application and in trying to sort things out discovered he could access all the other applications that had been made online.
Visa processing in India had been contracted out by the Foreign Office to a private Indian company, VFS Global, the report said, and added that in a blog last week, Mitra revealed how he had checked and found the loophole was still there. He reportedly emailed the company last year but heard nothing. He emailed the British High Commission, who two months later replied that they would look into it.
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