Data of people is safe with CoWIN, allegations of data leak baseless: Govt

Recently, reports surfaced about a data leak affecting 150 million users registered on the Co-WIN portal had surfaced.

RS Sharma, chairman of the Empowered Group on Vaccine Administration (EGVAC), on Saturday, refuted claims of a data leak affecting users registered on the government’s Covid-19 vaccine portal Co-WIN. 
 

“The claims of so called hackers on the dark web, relating to the alleged hacking of the Co-WIN system and data leak, is baseless. We continue to take appropriate steps as are necessary, from time to time, to ensure that the data of the people is safe with Co-WIN,” Sharma said. 
 

Recently, reports had surfaced about a data leak affecting 150 million users registered on the Co-WIN portal. The government had noted that while the data leak appeared to be fake, it would investigate the matter. 
 

Several security researchers have also pointed out that the data leak is “fake”, as it is being sold on a dark web marketplace known for frequently advertising data leaks with no proof or evidence. 
 

Researchers have flagged that a sample of the leaked data, a known method employed by hackers for demanding ransom, is being sold for $180 in bitcoin when usually hackers choose to provide sample data for free. 
 

A dark web marketplace called Dark Leak Market is claiming to “resell” the leaked data for $800, adding that they acquired the data from sources.