Aadhaar privacy: Key issues that all Aadhaar card holders should bear in mind

Aadhaar privacy: Key issues that all Aadhaar card holders should bear in mind

According to the latest data, there are more than 24.37 crore PANs registered in the country, while Aadhaar card has been issued to 113 crore people.

Advertisement
Aadhaar privacy: Key issues that all Aadhaar card holders should bear in mindAadhaar privacy: Key issues that all Aadhaar card holders should bear in mind
BusinessToday.In
  • Jul 19, 2017,
  • Updated Oct 27, 2023 12:19 PM IST

As the Supreme Court hears petitions whether the right to privacy is a fundamental right, there are some key aspects that Aadhar Card holders should bear in mind, especially, because the government has made Aadhaar mandatory for a number of schemes and official purposes, including the filing of income tax returns.

Advertisement

In May, when malicious ransomware (in which the attacker locks down your computer and demands money to unlock it) infected hundreds of computers in different countries, questions were raised on how safe are we from cyber attacks, especially when digital transactions are increasing by leaps and bounds?

The government launched Aadhaar Pay, a platform that allows you to make payments using Aadhaar number-linked bank accounts. It is a merchant version of Aadhaar-enabled payment system which lets you make payments without a smartphone. One just requires the fingerprint of the payer for authentication; there is no need for a POS machine to swipe the card.

However, when passwords are fallible, how reliable can biometric authentication from Aadhaar Pay be, particularly when there have been cases of leakage of Aadhaar data? According to some experts, Aadhaar authentication is pretty strong because you cannot connect to the Aadhaar database except through secured APIs.

Advertisement

 

As the Supreme Court hears petitions whether the right to privacy is a fundamental right, there are some key aspects that Aadhar Card holders should bear in mind, especially, because the government has made Aadhaar mandatory for a number of schemes and official purposes, including the filing of income tax returns.

Advertisement

In May, when malicious ransomware (in which the attacker locks down your computer and demands money to unlock it) infected hundreds of computers in different countries, questions were raised on how safe are we from cyber attacks, especially when digital transactions are increasing by leaps and bounds?

The government launched Aadhaar Pay, a platform that allows you to make payments using Aadhaar number-linked bank accounts. It is a merchant version of Aadhaar-enabled payment system which lets you make payments without a smartphone. One just requires the fingerprint of the payer for authentication; there is no need for a POS machine to swipe the card.

However, when passwords are fallible, how reliable can biometric authentication from Aadhaar Pay be, particularly when there have been cases of leakage of Aadhaar data? According to some experts, Aadhaar authentication is pretty strong because you cannot connect to the Aadhaar database except through secured APIs.

Advertisement

 

Read more!
Advertisement