FB pixel

State gas company leaks millions of Aadhaar numbers in second breach

 

A state-owned gas company in India has exposed the personal information of an estimated 6.8 million people to Google searches, including Aadhaar numbers, Vice News reports. The leak was discovered by French security expert Baptiste Robert, and detailed in a Medium post four days after the company, which did not respond, was notified.

Indane provides subsidies of liquified petroleum gas, and by making accounts visible through a dealer portal unprotected with authentication, the names, addresses, and Aadhaar numbers of customers were exposed. The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has previously said Aadhaar numbers, while not secret for verification purposes, should be protected like other identity documents and sensitive items such as credit cards.

TechCrunch has verified Robert’s findings, but Indane initially denied that there had been a leak, before taking its website offline.

A state government also leaked Aadhaar numbers of 160,000 government workers last month, according to Vice.

The UIDAI has consistently held that the deduplication and biometric identity verification features of Aadhaar make it secure against such leaks, and when an Indane endpoint vulnerability exposed personal information in early 2018, said its own database remained secure and no biometric data had been compromised. The agency has also previously said that exposure of Aadhaar information does not constitute a breach, but with national elections just months away, the national ID system, which has been both a signature project and a source of headaches for the Modi government, does not seem to be assuring the Indian public.

Aadhaar is still necessary for many transactions, however, and following the government’s commitment to the system, businesses including companies like NEXT Biometrics have invested in providing authentication under the world’s largest biometric program.

Article Topics

 |   |   |   | 

Latest Biometrics News

 

Oxford program to study DPI impact on social, financial inclusion

Oxford University’s Blavatnik School of Government has announced the establishment of the Oxford Digital Public Infrastructure Research Lab (OxDPI), an…

 

Idemia makes OEM pitch for biometric modules

A recent webinar from Idemia Public Security looks at how original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) can integrate seamless security into devices…

 

ICE wants biometric monitoring devices for alternative to detention program

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) issued a Request for Information (RFI) for biometric monitoring devices as part of its…

 

Biometrics coming to more stadiums with facial recognition tender in NSW

Venues New South Wales (VNSW) has issued a tender for facial recognition systems to be deployed at Stadium Australia (Accor…

 

FinGo supplying vein biometrics to boost gold mining transparency

SMX – a company operating in the so-called circular economy – is collaborating with finger vein biometrics firm FinGo in…

 

Biometric privacy law in Texas close enough to BIPA to protect Match

Just because you live in Illinois and a company has processed your biometrics without getting your informed consent, you may…

Comments

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Most Read This Week

Featured Company

Biometrics Insight, Opinion

Digital ID In-Depth

Biometrics White Papers

Biometrics Events