CoWIN data breach: CERT-In in discussion with 11 states that developed their own databases, says report

As reports claiming a breach of data of beneficiaries registered on the CoWIN platform have come to the fore, the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) is reportedly in discussions with at least 11 state governments that had developed their own databases during the Covid-19 pandemic and seeded citizens' personal details, including their Aadhaar details.

The nodal cyber security agency is looking into any potential leaks that could have happened from the data-bases of these states, reported The Indian Express. Kerala and Karnataka are said to be among the 11 states, as per the report.

“Some states had created their full-fledged databases during the pandemic to track things like containment zones and vaccination status of residents. Some health workers in the states may also have had access to that data, which in some cases was stored on local devices," a senior Union government official told the publication.

CERT-In has expanded the scope of its investigation into the issue by assessing whether one of these databases was impacted, the official added.

The agency is also co-operating with messaging platform Telegram -- where a bot was throwing up the sensitive data of citizens, allegedly sourced from the CoWIN database -- to ascertain the identity of the person or group behind it.

The Union Health Ministry on Monday said reports claiming breach of data of beneficiaries registered on the CoWIN platform were "without any basis", and that it has requested the country's nodal cyber security agency CERT-In to look into the issue and submit a report.

While asserting that the CoWIN portal is completely safe with adequate safeguards for data privacy, it said an internal exercise has been initiated to review the existing security measures of CoWIN.

"It is clarified that all such reports are without any basis and mischievous in nature.  Co-WIN portal of Health Ministry is completely safe with adequate safeguards for data privacy," it said.

The ministry, however, said it has requested the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) to look into the issue and submit a report.

(With PTI inputs)

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