Security researcher Srinivas Kodali has reported the leak of data of individuals on a website that includes the Aadhaar number, bank - branch, IFSC code and account number, father's name, address, gram panchayat, mobile number, ration card number, occupation, religion and caste information. Due to the sensitive nature of the leak, the name of the Andhra Pradesh government website is being withheld till the data can be secured. https://twitter.com/digitaldutta/status/988606704253272069 While the government and UIDAI have argued in the Supreme Court that Aadhaar cannot be used to profile individuals, Aadhaar numbers being linked to various sets of information allow aggregation of discrete sets of data into a pervasive whole. The information, as seen here clearly allows for targeting of individuals by religion, caste, locality and more. While the government claims that it does not have the capabilities to use Aadhaar in this manner, actual applications of such use refute their claims. https://twitter.com/digitaldutta/status/988639712909737984 Kodali shared a heavily redacted screenshot of the kind of data publicly available on the site. The facility clearly allows for searching of individual information and returns lists that can be used by anyone to get targeted lists of people whose information is on the site. Kodali has stressed that this database is publicly available and that there is no unauthorized access or hacking involved to access it. It is published publicly. The ability to generate lists of this sort is no minor data breach and has security implications for entire communities. Information of this sort can be used…
