Aadhaar details leaked after TRAI chief throws breach challenge
New Delhi, July 28 : Alleged personal details of Indias telecom watchdog chief R.S. Sharma were leaked on Saturday after the TRAI chairman threw a challenge and tweeted his 12-digit Aadhaar asking if it had made him vulnerable to any security risk.
A French security expert, who goes by the nickname Elliot Alderson and uses twitter handle @fs0c131y, in a series of tweets caused ripples on the social media, leaking "personal address, DoB, your alternate phone number" and explaining to Sharma, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) chairman, how risky it was to make the Aadhaar number public.
"People managed to get your personal address, DoB and your alternate phone number. I stop here, I hope you will understand why make your Aadhaar number public is not a good idea," Alderson wrote.
Sharma, a known defender of Aadhaar, has been maintaining that the unique ID does not violate privacy and the government reserved a right to create such a database of residents since it gives subsidies on state-run welfare schemes.
Amid a debate on privacy concerns, which has also reached the Supreme Court, activists and people in general fear that the 12-digit biometric number was harmful to citizen's privacy.
"My Aadhaar number is 7621 7768 2740. Now I give this challenge to you: Show me one concrete example where you can do any harm to me," tweeted Sharma, whose tenure ends on August 9.
A twitter user had earlier asked Sharma to "walk your talk" after the TRAI chief tweeted his interview with an online portal in which he strongly defended Aadhaar and rejected apprehensions that one billion Aadhaar accounts were vulnerable.
He said there had not been a single instance of data being breached and had there been one, the entire Aadhaar database would have been vulnerable.
Within hours of tweeting his Aadhaar number, Anderson replied to Sharma: "The phone number linked to this #Aadhaar number is 9958587977.
"According to an official @nicmeity circular, this phone number is the number of your secretary," Anderson wrote and posted a link to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology circular.
The security researched also posted a picture of Sharma with a portion of it blackened. "I supposed this is your wife or daughter next to you."
Anderson, who is known to have revealed security loopholes in the Aadhaar data system, also posted screenshots of Sharma's leaked details with key areas blackened and hidden.
One of the screenshots even carried his PAN details. But that was also hidden.
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We need to create system in which people's skills get their due: Rahul Gandhi
New Delhi (PTI): Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi Friday called for creating a system in which people's skills get their due and everyone's contribution is respected, as he shared a Diwali video in which he interacts with paint job workers and potters.
Posting the over nine-minute video which features him also having a conversation with his nephew Raihan Rajiv Vadra on YouTube, the former Congress chief said, "A memorable Diwali with special people - I celebrated this Diwali working with some painter brothers and making earthen diyas with a potter family."
"I saw their work closely, tried to learn their skills and understood their difficulties and problems. They don't go home. We celebrate festivals happily and to earn some money, they forget their village, city, family," Gandhi said.
"They make happiness from clay. While lighting up the festivals of others, are they able to live in light themselves? Those who build houses can hardly run their own houses!" he said.
Gandhi said Diwali means light that can remove the darkness of poverty and helplessness.
"We have to create such a system -- in which people's skills get their due and contribution is respected -- makes everyone's Diwali a happy one. I hope this Diwali brings prosperity, progress and love in the lives of all of you," he said.
In the video, Gandhi is seen working with labourers at the 10 Janpath residence and learning to paint walls along with his nephew. In the second part of the video, Gandhi goes to the house of a woman who makes earthen lamps with her five daughters.
Gandhi tries his hand at pottery and makes 'diyas', which he says he would give to his mother and sister.
Since his Kanyakumari to Kashmir Bharat Jodo Yatra and his Manipur to Mumbai Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, Gandhi has been interacting with a cross-section of people from mechanics and cobblers to labourers and bus drivers.
He often posts videos of his numerous interactions and highlights the plight of various sections of society.
