Provident Fund Portal Hacked, 2.7 Crore People Face Data Theft
NEW DELHI: The personal and professional details of about 2.7 crore members registered with the retirement fund body Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) have been exposed to data theft.
In a letter to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, the Central Provident Fund Commissioner has written that hackers have stolen data from the Aadhaar seeding portal of EPFO. He has also asked the ministry's technical team to plug vulnerabilities on the portal aadhaar.epfoservices.com that has now been temporarily shut. The portal links the Aadhaar number of employees with their provident fund accounts.
In the letter marked "secret", the commissioner wrote that the Intelligence Bureau (IB) had informed them of "hackers exploiting the vulnerabilities prevailing in the website (aadhaar.epfoservices.com) of EPFO."
Details of the scale of the breach are not known but the website contains information like the names and addresses of EPF subscribers besides their employment history.
"Each person contributes 12% of salary as provident fund, so salary details could also have been stolen. Also the bank account numbers as people tend to withdraw their PF," said cybersecurity expert Anand Venkatnarayan.
Hackers exploiting vulnerabilities, EPFO commissioner wrote to the government
A total of 114 government websites were hacked between April 2017 and January 2018, the Ministry of Electronics and IT told Lok Sabha in March.
On April 6, amidst reports that several websites including those of the ministries of defence, home and law had been hacked, the government had dismissed them as hardware problems.
Cyber security experts say monitoring is a big issue with government websites.
"The reason why these breaches happen is that the government is always reactive instead of being proactive. We never take security measures in initial stages. There should be a proper bug reporting mechanism also so that we can report to the government and they can secure their database," said Kshitij Adlakha, CEO of Cybersecurity firm Secugenius.
"No confirmed data leakage has been established or observed so far. As part of the data security and protection, EPFO has taken advance action by closing the server and host service through CSC (Common Service Centre) pending vulnerability checks, EPFO said in a statement.
The head of the Computer Emergency Response team of the Ministry of Electronics and IT, when contacted by NDTV, remained unavailable.
The body that governs Aadhaar, UIDAI, has clarified that it has nothing to do with the alleged data breach from aadhaar.epfoservices.com. "This matter does not pertain at all to any Aadhaar data breach from UIDAI servers. There is absolutely no breach into Aadhaar database of UIDAI. Aadhaar data remains safe and secure," it said.
Courtesy:NDTV
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SKSBV Dakshina Kannada's new district committee formed
Mangaluru: The leaders' camp and district committee formation of Samastha Kerala Sunni Balavedi (SKSBV), a student organization of the Dakshina Kannada District Jamiyathul Muallimeen, was held at the Budoli Samastha Muallim Center near Mani under the chairmanship of SKSBV District Chairman P.M. Yahya Madani Mardhala.
Dakshina Kannada District SKSBV Convener K.H. Ashraf Hanifi Karaya welcomed the gathering, and local Khatib Abubakkar Saadi inaugurated the meeting. SKJMCC Mudarrib Adnan Ansari and Hashim Rahmani conducted the classes. District Jamiyyathul Muallimeen Secretary Muhammad Navavi facilitated the formation of the Mundole Committee.
A new committee was formed for the year 2024–2025, with P.M. Yahya Madani as the chairman. The new team includes I.K. Ishaq Faizi from the Deralakatte Range as the vice chairman, Haris Faizi from the Bombila Range, and K.H. Ashraf Hanifi Karaya as the district convener. Altaf Maulavi from the Moodbidri Range was appointed as the vice convener, with Hafiz Ansari from the Surathkal Range representing the Media Wing. Sharif Faizi Maabari from the Udupi Range and Ansar Ansari from the Surathkal Range were also part of the Media Wing, while Mueenuddin Faizi from the Sulya Range joined as a member.
Hashim Nihal from the Mittabail Range was elected as the President. Vice Presidents include Shahid Yusuf from the Kadaba Range, Muhammad Hafeef from the Mangaluru West Range, and Muhammad Sawad from the Madannur Range.
The committee also appointed Muhammad Shahim from the Suralpady Range as the General Secretary, Muhammad Mufiz from the Gurupur Range as the Working Secretary, and Muhammad Aslam from the Athur Range as one of the Joint Secretaries. Additional Joint Secretaries include Muhammad Sahad from the Sulya Range, Muhammad Nihal from the Mani Range, and Muhammad Tamim from the Puttur Range, while Ziyad from the Bombila Range was named the Adab Chairman.
Ahmed Zain from the Deralakatte Range was selected as the Convener, Salman Faris from the Belthangady Range as the Kidma Chairman, and Ahmed Isham from the Uppinangady Range as another Convener.
Ismail Rashim from the Salettur Range was appointed as the Alif Chairman, with Muhammad Zaveer from the Bantwal Range as a Convener. Tech Admin Chairman duties were assigned to Muhammad Anas from the Udupi Range, while Muhammad Shan from the Farangipet Range, Muhammad Asadullah from the Adyar Kannur Range, Ismail Suhail from the Moodbidri Range, Zuhaib Hasan from the Surathkal Range, Muhammad Sihan from the Vitla Range, Imtiaz from the Kumbra Range, Saif from the Kurnadka Range, Muhammad Haneen from the Kalladka Range, and Sinan from the Mangaluru Range were elected as members of the District Executive Committee in the presence of Range Chairmen and Conveners.
District Jamiyyathul Muallimeen members, including Nizar Musliyar from the Bantwal Range, Qasim Arshadi from the Farangipete Range, Majeed Darimi from the Mani Range, P.J. Abdul Aziz Kalak, Abdul Rahman Darimi from the Sattikallu Range, K.P. Abdul Majeed Budoli, Ataullah Kalak, Hanif Kalak, Mustafa Kalak, and Jalil Musliyar, were present at the meeting. Parvez Akhtar Puttur, Vice President of Central SKSBV, delivered the vote of thanks.
