UIDAI says no data leaked from its servers

Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), on Wednesday, dismissed news reports about the alleged theft of data of 7.82 crore residents which were carried in a section of media.

This is in connection to the FIR filed by Telangana police against IT Grid (India) for allegedly storing users' data in violation of the Aadhar Act.

Stating that Central Identities Data Repository (CIDR) and its servers are completely safe, the UIDAI said, "No illegal access was made to the CIDR and no data has been stolen from the UIDAI servers."

Filing a complaint on the basis of a report from Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Telangana police, the UIDAI said, "SIT has not found any evidence to show that data was stolen from UIDAI servers."

Clearing the air, the UIDAI said, "Service providers usually collect Aadhar number, address, etc under Aadhar act but they are only supposed to use that data for the purpose for which such information has been collected. Data cannot be shared for any other purpose without the consent of Aadhar holders."

If service providers do use data for other purposes they are liable to be prosecuted under the Aadhar Act, it added.

UIDAI also requested the SIT to investigate what purpose was all the data collected for by IT Grid (INDIA) and if it violated the provisions of the Aadhar Act.

The Aadhar governing body further lamented the attempt by some media sections at projecting this as if UIDAI has been compromised.

Assuring the Aadhar holders, the UIDAI said, "Although a crime under the Aadhar act, mere possession of Aadhar numbers cannot bring any harm. Biometric or OTP verification is the second mandatory step for authentication.