French Hacker Helps Govt Plug Major Aadhaar Data Leak

Elliot Alderson is know for criticising Aadhaar’s safety. He has time and again spotted lapses in Aadhaar security.

In a survey conducted by social engagement platform LocalCircle, out of 15,000 votes, 52% feared that their Aadhaar data is not secure.

(Photo: Saumya Pankaj/The Quint)

The Indian cyber machinery, in collaboration with famous French security researcher and hacker Elliot Alderson has claimed to have plugged a major data leak over the last nine days, according to a report from The Hindu.

Alderson had, on 10 March, tweeted that two Indian government websites were leaking document IDs, including Aadhaar cards. One website was claimed to have leaked 300,000 documents while another was said to leak 5,000 IDs, Alderson tweeted.

Alderson had tweeted that in order to celebrate his 100,000 followers, he would expose the leak. He further asked people to inbox him on Twitter for details. He gave a deadline of one week for people to respond to his tweet, but clarified that he would not disclose the details to journalists.

The Hindu reports that sources said the matter was discussed at the highest levels of the Indian government, after which contact was established with Alderson for a "top secret operation to identify and plug the leaks."

On Monday, 18 March, Anderson confirmed that the issues have been fixed and the documents of 305,000 have been secured.

Alderson is known for being critical of the Aadhaar system. He has often called out the UIDAI, saying that it is a security risk as it stores all the personal details of Indians in one common server.

(With inputs from The Hindu)