Trai chief's personal info not from Aadhaar database: UIDAI

New Delhi:  The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) on Sunday claimed that the personal details of Trai chief R. S. Sharma being put out on Twitter are not from the Aadhaar database or its servers, and that these are easily available with a simple search on Google and other sites, without using the 12-digit unique identity number.

Trai chief Mr Sharma on Saturday had kicked-off a storm on Twitter by revealing his Aadhaar number and challenged activists to show how public disclosure of it could harm him.

Soon “ethical” hackers started putting out what they claimed to be Mr Sharma’s phone number, alternate phone number, personal photograph supposed to be his whatsapp profile, PAN details, frequent flyer number, date of birth, voter ID details, address and email account IDs. Mr Sharma did not verify whether the specific details pertaining to PAN and others were indeed correct.

However, the UIDAI, which is the nodal body for issuing the biometric identifier Aadhaar, in a statement on Sunday dismissed claims by ethical hackers that they have fetched personal details of  Mr Sharma  using his Aadhaar number.

UIDAI maintained that any information published on Twitter about Mr Sharma was not fetched from Aadhaar database or UIDAI’s servers.

“In fact, this so called ‘hacked’ info (about  Mr Sharma’s personal details such as his address, dob, photo, mobile number, email and so on) was already available in  public domain as he has been a public servant for decades. It is easily available on Google and various other sites by a simple search without Aadhaar number,” it said. UIDAI said claim by “so-called hackers” they had got Mr  Sharma’s  personal details by hacking Aadhaar database “is a farce and people should not believe such fraudulent elements active on social and other media.”

 “Aadhaar database is fully safe and secure and no such information about Mr Sharma has been fetched from UIDAI’s severs or Aadhaar database.  This is merely cheap publicity by these unscrupulous elements who try to attract attention by creating such fake news,” it said.

“For example, Mr Sharma’s mobile number is available on NIC website as he was once secretary IT, Government of India. His date of birth is available in the civil list of IAS officers which is kept in public domain and his address is on TRAI website because he is TRAI chairman.

 Similarly his email id may be available in public domain. They clubbed all these inputs and claimed that they have managed to breach Aadhaar database and got his personal details, which is completely false,” said UIDAI.  

It said that in today’s digital world through various search engines such as Google, personal data can be picked from different sources without Aadhaar and a profile can be made.

UIDAI  said that  people usually give PAN or mobile number at many places and someone can pick other personal data from different websites as he gets to know his PAN/mobile number.

 “Can anyone demand on this basis that PAN number is unsafe and should be abolished? Or, can say that it is the online world and online search which help gather information from different sources and create a profile and therefore, online search should be prohibited? Of course, this is not the answer,” said UIDAI.

“It is a challenge of emerging digital world and personal data protection which have been sought to be addressed in the recommendations submitted by the Justice Srikrishna Committee,” it said. “Aadhaar database is totally safe and has proven its security robustness over the last eight years,” it added.