'Completely safe': Government responds to reports of CoWIN data breach

Several media reports emerged on Monday claiming a massive data breach in CoWIN (Covid Vaccine Intelligence Network) portal. The reports suggested that the breach allowed access to all personal details that an individual furnished on the portal in order to receive the vaccine.

Now, the Health Ministry has reacted to the reports and rejected them. The government has said that the Co-WIN portal of the Health Ministry is completely safe with safeguards for data privacy, ANI reported. It added that all reports of data breaches are without any basis and mischievous in nature. Moreover, it has requested CERT-In to look into this issue and submit a report.

Earlier today, certain posts on the social media platform Twitter claimed using a Telegram (online messenger application) BOT, the personal data of individuals who have been vaccinated is being accessed. It is reported that the BOT has been able to pull individual data by simply passing the mobile number or Aadhaar number of a beneficiary.

Union Minister of State for Electronics and IT, Rajeev Chandrasekhar said that with reference to some alleged CoWIN data breaches reported on social media, the CERT-In immediately responded to the threat and reviewed it.

"A Telegram bot was throwing up CoWIN app details upon entry of phone numbers. The data being accessed by bot from a threat actor database, which seems to have been populated with previously breached/stolen data stolen from the past," the minister said in a tweet.

READ | No Rapido, Uber bike-taxi to operate on Delhi roads for now as Supreme Court stays HC order