Sensitive data of 62 per cent of Americans leaked. Is our Aadhaar safe?

Nobody’s information is secure in an era of big data.
PTI file image of Aadhaar Card
PTI file image of Aadhaar Card

CHENNAI: Nobody’s information is secure in an era of big data. Americans learnt it the hard way on Monday after a marketing company working for the Republican National Committee compromised sensitive personal information of more than half the country’s population.

According to a report carried by tech news website Gizmodo, sensitive details of almost 62 per cent of the US population was “accidentally left exposed” by a marketing company. This is reportedly the largest breach of electoral data in the US so far.

The compromise of data in the US - whose tech prowess has been a source of inspiration for aspiring Indians - comes at a time when protests have spiked back home against the government’s unique identification scheme, a.k.a the Aadhaar card.

Express had earlier reported how several State and Union government websites, including the Swachh Bharat Mission, leaked data of citizens who have subscribed to the Aadhaar. Details leaked included the Aadhaar number, address and in some cases, even the LPG connection numbers and phone numbers.
Back in the US, the details of citizens compromised by the company include addresses, birthdates, phone numbers, political views, opinions on gun control, stem cell research and abortion. The data was publicly available on Amazon cloud server and could be accessed by anyone who had a link.

“We take full responsibility for this situation,” said Alex Lundry, founder of Deep Root, the company that compromised the data. “Based on the information we have gathered, our systems have not been compromised.” The data was reportedly updated last in January, when Donald Trump took over as President. It is uncertain how long the data could be accessed.

The US episode is a lesson for India where the government is pushing forward with the Aadhaar programme, making it mandatory for transactions with almost every government department and select private services.

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