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UIDAI takes note of close to 100 Aadhaar-related FIRs
The cases include Aadhaar numbers being compromised, Pakistani citizens acquiring the unique numbers meant only for residents in India, authentication frauds, forgery, unauthorized access and tampering, officials said.
Although nearly a hundred police complaints related to Aadhaar numbers between 2018 and 2021 have been brought to the notice of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) by law enforcement agencies, a much larger number of cases remain unreported, according to officials familiar with the matter.
The cases include Aadhaar numbers being compromised, Pakistani citizens acquiring the unique numbers meant only for residents in India, authentication frauds, forgery, unauthorized access and tampering, they said.
“This, however, is just the tip of the iceberg,” an official said. “For every FIR (first information report) filed, there will be hundreds of cases that have not been reported.”
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The authority does not typically file police complaints but can be approached for help if law keepers need it to facilitate investigations.
“Aadhaar is an identity and, hence, there have to be stricter safeguards to ensure its security,” an official said, seeking anonymity. “This is a question of national security.”
The statutory agency did not immediately respond to queries.
“This comes as no surprise and I would assume the numbers quoted to be much less than reality considering the rampant misuse of Aadhaar data in commission of cyber crimes amongst other forms of misuse” said NS Nappinai, Supreme Court advocate and founder - Cyber Saathi (an initiative focusing on cyber safety on digital spaces).
Aadhaar is a 12-digit number that links the biometric data of an individual, creating a unique identity. Aadhaar is linked to a person’s bank details, phone number, government schemes and other financial services.
The security and vulnerability of Aadhaar has been a critical issue for the government. There have been reports of Aadhaar numbers being compromised.
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The Union government has, however, maintained that the Aadhaar system has never been breached.
“I would like to convey to this House that the data of the UIDAI is completely safe. We do six crore authentications everyday and till now… we have done 1,500 crore authentications of Aadhaar,” former electronics and information technology minister Ravi Shankar Prasad told Parliament earlier.
“Aadhaar related data breaches are a matter of serious concern and cannot be brushed aside” cautions Nappinai. “It is imperative that MeitY/UIDAI which are responsible for its security and appropriate usage ensure due action in cases of such data breaches” she added.
There have been cases of attempted unauthorised access to the authentication system, the ministry under which UIDAI operates said on March 23.
“In all such cases, FIRs have been lodged for unauthorized authentication cases. UIDAI has a strong and rigorous process of identifying such types of cases and ensuring that these are reported to the concerned law enforcement agencies for necessary action,” the ministry said.
A total of 4,088 such cases have been detected, according to data maintained by the National Payments Corporation of India. The number rose sharply from 497 in 2019-20 to 1,200 in 2020-21, and 2,391 in 2021-22. The transaction counts rose from 1,370 to 3,755, and 8,739 respectively.
A total of ₹101 million may have been siphoned off using the method.
