UIDAI assures safety and security of all personal details

Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has admitted that over 200 websites belonging to central and state governments, including educational institutes had disclosed the names and addresses of few Aadhaar beneficiaries.

In a reply to a Right to Information (RTI) query, UIDAI said the information was never leaked from their side but taking cognizance over the displayed information on websites, it got it removed. The Aadhaar issuing authority could not specify the details about the exact time when the information was uploaded.

The incident comes into light when people had moved apex court alleging that Aadhaar breaches right to privacy and showed apprehension that data could be misused by various agencies. The matter is still pending in the court.

UIDAI issues 12-digit unique identification number known as Aadhaar number to every Indian citizen on behalf of Indian government. It serves the dual purpose of verifying the address and identification.

Recently central government had announced to make Aadhaar mandatory to avail various social welfare schemes.

UIDAI claims that it has a well-designed, multi-layer approach, robust security system in place and the same is being constantly upgraded to maintain the highest level of data security and integrity.

The UIDAI further said, “Various policies and procedures have been defined, these are reviewed and updated continually, thereby appropriately controlling and monitoring any movement of people, material and data in and out of UIDAI premises, particularly the data centres.”

It said they keep conducting audit on a timely basis and assures that no breach takes place into their stored data. The authority takes all measures to safeguard one’s privacy, it added.