All is not well with Aadhaar

Aadhaar breach: Gaping holes in data security and the unreliability of biometrics put a question mark on the project. UIDAI’s denials are increasingly unconvincing

Written by Usha Ramanathan | Updated: January 6, 2018 8:38 am

Aadhaar breach: The UIDAI admitted this had happened, but said “that was not us”, the database is safe. Then they began to threaten those who exposed the leaks with criminal action. (Illustration by Subrata Dhar)

Does it really not matter at all that the personal details of a billion people, including their name, address, gender, date of birth, parents’ names, possibly bank account number, mobile number, email address and photo have been exposed by anonymous sellers? Is the only thing valuable in the UID (unique identification) database the biometric data? If the demographic data is so easy to reach, how do we know the biometric data is safe?

The explosive report in The Tribune on January 4, which revealed the gaping holes in the security of the database, has provoked the predictable response from the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) — denial. The reporter explains the few simple and swift steps she had to take, and the Rs 500 she had to pay, to access a billion identities on the UID database. The UIDAI says this is “misreporting”, and what happened is not a breach — that the database is safe and secure. And that they will take legal action against those involved in the case — an implicit admission amidst much denial.

The leaks, breaches and misuses have become too frequent for the denial to be convincing.