VIJAYAWADA: Ironically, just a day after Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu inaugurated The Andhra Pradesh Cyber Security Operations Centre (APCSOC), touted to be the first-of-its-kind in the country, an independent security researcher Kodali Srinivas has exposed how a State government website itself was leaking Aadhaar data, bank accounts complete with IFSC codes, caste and religion besides geo-location of 1.34 lakh beneficiaries of housing schemes.
Srinivas, who had earlier helped out the way government websites were leaking Aadhaar data of NREGS workers, told TNIE that this time, he had found that the State Housing Corporation's website had personal details of beneficiaries on a document titled Beneficiary Details belonging to Entry Report for Scheme Hudhud and the Urban Housing Scheme. Clarifying that he hadn't hacked the website, he explained that he had merely exposed the details already uploaded for everyone to see and download. He alerted the Universal Identification Authority of India, the National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Centre, CERT-In, the Centre's cyber response wing and the State government authorities. Last checked, the private details of the citizens have been removed.
When contacted, Vijayanand, IT Secretary, Government of Andhra Pradesh, said he had despatched a team headed by an officer of the rank of joint secretary, to sit with officials in the Housing Department and sort out the issue. “I cannot comment more on this since we don't have complete information. We will get full details by tomorrow," he added.
Srinivas, pointing at the State government's all-out efforts to collect citizens' information, observed that it was doing so in the name of transparency and e-governance and reasoned, “but all these details are not necessary if the purpose is just transparency." Referring to e-Pragathi, a massive State government programme aimed at creating an eco-system for e-governance, he wondered if the so-called State Enterprise Architecture was meant for 360 degree coverage of all citizens. "Why do they need profiles, building locations, income details, bank accounts etc? A quick glance at the CM dashboard reveals medical profiles, student profiles among others. Now, for all you know, police could be using the same information.
The UIDAI discounts the possibility of profiling individuals, and says it is up to the governments. In Andhra, the authorities are going overboard. For instance in Vizag, auto-drivers are forced to display Aadhaar details on the vehicle," he pointed out. Speculating on the reason behind Andhra Pradesh government going full throttle in collecting Aadhaar details among others, Srinivas speculates it might be doing so either deliberately or under the influence of techno-utopians, who believe technology will solve all issues, and wonders why the officialdom is insisting on Aadhaar for even Leprosy patients.
He also raised a few pertinent questions: What if political parties harvest this data? or what if vested interests use the data to target people? Cyber fraud using bank details cannot ruled out either.
What is ePragathi?
e-Pragati is a large programme, with a long term vision for creating a sustainable eco-system of e-Governance, attempted on a scale like this by very few Governments in the world like Korea, Estonia and Singapore. e-Pragati covers 33 departments and 315 agencies and around 745 services. This is the largest e-Governance programme approved by any State with a total outlay of Rs 2398 crore, out of which the Government Capex would be to the extent of Rs 1528 crore. Just on Tuesday, the Chief Minister had held a review meeting on the progress of e-Pragathi.
Details of 9,766 teachers too leaked
Aadhaar and personal details such as caste of 9,766 of teachers are easily downloadable from the website of the Commissionerate of School Education, AP. This was brought to the notice of Elliot Alderson, a French researcher, by a netizen on Twitter last week. Alderson has reached out to IT Minister Nara Lokesh on Wednesday, but the latter hasn't responded yet.