Reports surfaced that a software costing just $35 (INR 2,500) allows unauthorised persons to generate Aadhaar numbers at will
UIDAI claims all recorded biometrics of a person – 10 fingerprints and two irises – are matched with those in the system and validated before a 12-digit identity number is issued
UIDAI claims it has taken safeguard measures, including providing standardised software that encrypts all data before saving it to any disk
The SC started its final hearing for constitutional validity of the Aadhaar Act in January, following which, in March 2018, the SC’s five-judge bench had asked UIDAI to prepare a powerpoint presentation in order to identify the loopholes in the Aadhaar Act 2016 and address the misgivings related to security of the data collected by the UIDAI.Earlier, the UIDAI mandated the use of face recognition for services such as the issuance of mobile SIM, banking services, public distribution system dole-outs, and marking of office attendance at government offices.
UIDAI CEO Ajay Bhushan Pandey, while presenting before the Supreme Court, had explained that all the personal data stored by Aadhaar is encrypted and can’t be hacked. He went on to claim that “it would take more than the age of the universe to break one encryption.”At the same time, the Delhi high court will hear a plea seeking damages from the authority for alleged failure to adopt adequate security measures that led to the controversial Aadhaar data leaks.