American cybersecurity agency reports massive breach involving Aadhar data
New Delhi: In a concerning revelation, an American cybersecurity and intelligence agency, Resecurity, has reported a massive data leak involving the Aadhaar and passport information of over 81 crore Indians. The alert, issued by Resecurity, stated that on October 9, 2023, a threat actor using the alias ‘pwn0001’ posted a thread on 'Breach Forums', offering access to 815 million "Indian Citizen Aadhaar & Passport" records for sale, highlighting the alarming scale of the breach compared to India's population of just over 1.486 billion people.
According to Resecurity's report, the threat actor was willing to sell the entire dataset for $80,000. The leaked information includes sensitive details such as names, father's names, phone numbers, passport numbers, Aadhaar numbers, ages, genders, addresses, and pin codes of Indian citizens. Resecurity confirmed the validity of Aadhaar Card IDs through the government portal's "Verify Aadhaar" feature.
Additionally, another threat actor named ‘Lucius’ advertised a 1.8 terabyte data leak containing India's internal law enforcement organization's database. This leak included names, phone numbers, addresses, national ID numbers, relative names, Aadhaar IDs, Voter IDs, and driving license records, making it a more extensive collection of personally identifiable information (PII) than the previous breach.
The leakage of such vast amounts of Indian PII data on the 'Dark Web' poses a significant risk of digital identity theft. Cybercriminals could potentially exploit these stolen credentials for various scams, including online banking theft and e-tax refund frauds.
India has witnessed a surge in cyberattacks targeting government platforms. Earlier this year, the government's Parivahan website experienced a data breach, exposing sensitive data and source code of 10,000 users. Additionally, threat actors have been selling Aadhaar and passport numbers of COVID-vaccinated individuals via platforms like Telegram.
India's Aadhaar system, which has issued approximately 1.4 billion IDs since its launch in 2009, stands as one of the world's largest biometric ID programs. Aadhaar serves as a digital ID, facilitating electronic payments, online verification (e-KYC), and compatibility with various financial platforms. As of February 2023, 945 million people, constituting 60% of India’s eligible voters, had linked their Aadhaar cards to their voter IDs.
To address data security concerns, the Rajya Sabha passed the Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, 2023, in August. This legislation aims to safeguard citizens' right to personal information, applying to digital personal data collected both online and offline, as well as data processed outside India for offering goods or services within the country.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Rickelton's ton in vain as SRH beat MI by 6 wickets
Mumbai (PTI): Ryan Rickelton's whirlwind unbeaten ton was overshadowed by Heinrich Klaasen's unbeaten 65 as Sunrisers Hyderabad defeated Mumbai Indians by six wickets in an IPL match here on Wednesday.
Chasing an imposing 244-run target, Travis Head (76 off 30) and Abhishek Sharma (45 off 24) shared 129 runs for the opening wicket to set the platform for SRH.
Klaasen (65 not out off 30 balls) then displayed his all-round hitting abilities to guide SRH home with the help of Nitish Kumar Reddy (21) and Salil Arora (30 not out off 10) in 18.4 overs.
Earlier, Rickelton's knock powered MI to 243 for five.
MI rode on a 93-run stand between Rickelton (123 not out off 55 balls) and Will Jacks (46 off 22) in 7.1 overs for the opening stand to power the side.
MI skipper Hardik Pandya scored a valuable 31 off 15 balls before being dismissed.
Praful Hinge (2/54), Eshan Malinga (1/29), Sakib Hasan (1/39) and Nitish Kumar Reddy (1/31) were the wicket-takers for SRH.
Brief Scores:
Mumbai Indian: 243 for 5 in 20 overs (Ryan Rickelton 123 not out; Praful Hinge 2/54).
Sunrisers Hyderabad: 249 for 4 in 18.4 overs (Travis Head 76, Heinrich Klaasen 65 not out; AM Ghazanfar 2/51).
