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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'Brand Bharat' is statement of authenticity; of being Vishwa Bandhu, says EAM
New Delhi (PTI): External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Saturday extolled the idea of 'Brand Bharat' and said it is "statement of authenticity" in representation, articulation or beliefs, and equally a message that "we are now more comfortable in our own skin".
In a virtual address at India Ideas Conclave, he also underlined that it is also the "brand of Vishwa Bandhu" as on the big stage, a "multi-vector approach" engages the Quad and BRICS, Russia and Ukraine, Israel and Iran and the Global North and Global South.
Nations, like people, enterprises or services, have a reputation. When deeply entrenched into consciousness and easily recognisable, that becomes a brand. Obviously, it is related to the merits of the product and its track record, he said.
"When it comes to a country, the national brand is obviously a fusion and aggregation of different facets of its life. On the global stage, it is much more an integrated positioning of a multiple endeavors. We, in the world of diplomacy, have that responsibility. My thoughts today are about how we discharge that for an India that is more Bharat," Jaishankar said.
In his address, the external affairs minister encapsulated the journey of India from freedom struggle to gaining independence and the course the country took in the succeeding decades.
"Our initial decades after independence saw us struggling with the brand challenge. Given the ground situation, this was not unsurprising. A society recovering from two centuries of colonialism obviously had to painstakingly build itself up, creating new capabilities, institutions and practices," he said.
But at the end of the day, India entered the next century "intact as a polity, energetic as an economy and optimistic as a society".
"None of that could have been taken for granted and some, in fact, failed to make it," he underlined.
The Union minister, who virtually addressed the conclave hosted by India Foundation, lamented that earlier the country, at the global level, was "seen as sizeable player about whom there was limited expectation", and said, however, the last decade has seen a "big shift" in that regard.
"Economically, we are now perceived as much easier to do business. The transformation underway in infrastructure is also increasingly appreciated.
Whether it is the airports, metros, highways or railways, the achievements of the last decade stand out even by global standards. Perhaps, nothing has been more impactful than our embrace of digital technologies," he added.
Jaishankar then went on to expound what is 'Brand Bharat'.
"Bharat is a statement of authenticity, be it in representation, articulation or beliefs. Even our economic energies required a connotation of Atmanirbharta in that background," he asserted.
"It is equally a message that we are now more comfortable in our own skin, drawing on our own past, fashioning our own lexicon and advancing our own ideas," the Union minister added.
He said while recognising these developments, let us also realise that "we are not just one more country".
"Our history, tradition, culture and heritage makes us stand out. We are one of the rare ancient civilisations that have made a successful transition to a nation state. In the past, when our overall standing was less, perhaps this did not count for that much. But when juxtaposed with our achievements in so many fields, it now assumes very different connotation," Jaishankar added.
It is in this context that "we should reflect on Brand Bharat. The very term captures the civilisational aspect, while underlining how much more rooted we have become", he said.
"In a world asserting its independence from a globalised elite, it is an effort to engage the world more on our terms. The formulation of standing on the two legs of technology and tradition is one effective way of expressing Brand Bharat," Jaishankar said.
Coming from the domain of diplomacy, India naturally seek to advance that brand in more specific terms. That means defining how Bharat approaches the world, he said.
"There are a range of answers. The Global South sees a powerful advocate and the driver of Vaccine Maitri. Neighbours recognise a generous and non-reciprocal partner who stood by them during Covid, financial meltdowns or natural disasters. Democracies appreciate a confident partner whose choice has helped universalise their shared attributes," the minister asserted.
"The immediate region and beyond value an emerging 'first responder' and contributor to global goods. And on the big stage, a multi-vector approach engages the Quad and BRICS, Russia and Ukraine, Israel and Iran and the Global North and South. This is the brand of Vishwa Bandhu," he said.
