Data thefts of Aadhar loom large

Saturday, May 4, 2013

Rahul Ramakrishna

Civil society and RTI activists plan to move Supreme Court on the safety aspects of Aadhar data.

With over seven lakh Aadhaar enrolment applicants’ data missing, the question now being raised is what can happen if it lands in the wrong hands?

It is common knowledge that data are the new currency. Since the basics required for living demand proofs of identity, data now translates into a benefit of availing any government or private service.

The loophole with the Aadhaar card system, however, is the framework of its functioning. Many feel that there is no guarantee of data safety, considering the number of private players roped in to handle the enrolment for the Aadhaar card.

According to Viplava Simha Reddy, High Court advocate, “The government has done a blunder by employing private agencies for enrolment. These agencies have employees who do not owe allegiance to government and have all the freedom to misuse the data they are entrusted with. It is the Central government’s responsibility to prosecute those private agencies found guilty of data loss and mismanagement.”

He also adds that if any individual is unhappy with the state of functioning of enrolment agencies, he/she can file an RTI and claim their proofs of identity back.

“If this does not happen, one can move the Supreme Court and thereby bring attention to this issue effectively,” he says.

Registrar is an entity recognised by UIDAI for enrolling individuals for UID cards popularly known as Aadhaar cards. Registrars are those entities which are normally frequented by people for various purposes like banks, rural development departments, public sector undertakings (PSUs).

These registrars will also act as data warehouses for storing applicants’ details which will be further deposited to CIDR (Central ID Data Repository) for keeping all citizens’ data in one place.

Given the number of copies of proofs of identity that are hoarded by those handling the enrolment processes, cyber experts believe they have a huge profit value in the international black market.

“In Hyderabad itself, insurance and banks pay huge amounts for customer data bases. Normally, agents are hired and paid through bidding process for bank account information and credit card information. The bids start at `13 and end at `750. In my opinion, if the data of seven lakh applicants were put on the international market, anybody from the corporates to fundamentalist organisations will be willing to buy it,” says Srikanth Sahay, cyber security expert.

“ It is hard to understand how there has been no public agitation or action against the Aadhaar card or the recent data loss, considering the immense security threats it poses.There is a false sense of security among our citizens,” says Srikanth.

Data thefts

According to the National Crime Bureau Records of 2012, Andhra Pradesh accounted 349 out of the total 1,791 cases which is 19.5 per cent, followed by Kerala (277), Karnataka (151) and Rajasthan (122). These cases related to data loss/theft, computer hardware mismanagement.

Hyde­rabad registered 76 cases in 2012.

According to City Cyber Crime Wing ACP K. Chitti Babu, “ We have not so far received any complaint of data theft or identity theft related to Aadhaar card. However, we do come across many such cases every year.”

Civil society activists plan to file a PIL in the Supreme Court with the help of senior counsels. Raoji Brahamanand, RTI activist and former civil servant says, “ It is surprising that nobody from the judiciary circles have challenged the credibility of the Aadhaar card. The government is arm twisting its citizens into enrolling for the Aadhaar card but states that it is not mandatory. It is like poisoning the village well and selling mineral water bottles and proclaiming that people are buying it on their free-will.”