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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Haryana govt doctors go on indefinite strike
Ambala/Kurukshetra (PTI): Government doctors in Haryana intensified their protest on Wednesday, extending their strike for an indefinite period in protest against the non-fulfilment of their demands, including the implementation of the modified assured career progression scheme.
The doctors had earlier launched a two-day strike, from December 8 to 9, which they have now extended for an indefinite period.
Amid the standoff with protesting doctors, the Haryana government, on Tuesday evening, invoked the Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA), prohibiting any strike by government doctors. The state health department ordered the deduction of salaries of the doctors for the days they remained off duty due to the protest.
The strike was initiated following a call from the Haryana Civil Medical Services Association, which represents government doctors in the state.
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As a result, healthcare services, including essential diagnostic services, ultrasound, and CT scan at many hospitals, were affected.
Dr Rajesh Khyalia, president of the Haryana Civil Medical Services Association, said the government had promised a year ago to fulfil their demands, which included a halt to direct recruitment of senior medical officers and implementation of a modified assured career progression scheme.
"We request the government to fulfil its promise. But rather than fulfilling its promise, it is trying to suppress our voice through ESMA or issuing letters," he said.
"Our doctors are not getting promotions. "We do not understand why the government is pressuring us. Why is it not implementing its promise?" he questioned.
He further said that three doctors in Panchkula are observing a fast unto death until the demands are met.
Noting that they are ready for a dialogue, Khyalia said they have not yet received any invitation from the government for talks.
The HCMSA has been demanding a halt in the direct recruitment of SMO and the implementation of modified assured career progression.
In the wake of the strike, state health authorities deployed doctors from the National Health Mission, medical colleges, ESIC, consultants, and Ayush practitioners to ensure that healthcare services continued without disruption.
Meanwhile, in Ambala and Kurukshetra, there was not much of an impact on healthcare services due to the strike.
Civil Surgeon Ambala Dr Rakesh Sahal said that 168 doctors are enrolled in the Ambala district, and they were present on Wednesday. He informed that all departments, including lab, ultrasound and X-ray, are functioning, and that patients are receiving proper medical care.
He further assured that all community health centres and primary health centres were working smoothly, adding that there has been no impact in Ambala due to the strike.
In Kurukshetra, the strike failed to evoke a response with all doctors reporting for duty at the Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narain District Hospital.
Chief Medical Officer Dr Sukhbir Singh Mehla said that while 23 of the 124 doctors were absent on Monday, 18 were absent on Tuesday. But not a single doctor skipped duty on Wednesday.
He said that medical services were functioning smoothly and patients did not face any inconvenience.
