Biggest data breach in India! Aadhaar card details of 81.5 crore Indians leaked online

The details of nearly 81.5 crore Indians, including Aadhaar card and passport information, have been leaked online in allegedly, the biggest data leak in India. Know all about it.

Aadhaar card, passport, and other details have been leaked online in what is being referred to as India's biggest data leak. (Bloomberg)

In a shocking development, the biggest data leak in India has allegedly been revealed. The Aadhaar card leak involves nearly 81.5 crore Indians! Cybersecurity is a critical issue in this digital age, and while organizations have safeguards in place to restrict unauthorized access to information, threat actors are also getting smart by employing nefarious but creative means to gain access to it. In this case, a database containing the Aadhaar card, passport, and other details of tens of millions of Indians has been leaked online. Let us take a closer look.

What happened

According to a News18 report, the leak was initially discovered by American cybersecurity firm Resecurity, which spotted a thread on Breach Forums posted by a threat actor with the sobriquet “pwn001”. The thread advertised a database containing information such as Aadhaar, passport, phone numbers, and addresses of nearly 81.5 crore Indians. The hacker even posted some spreadsheets as "proof" that he actually has the data. 

The data was uploaded as leak samples in spreadsheets with chunks of Aadhaar card details, which the user claimed to have sourced from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). The data seems to have been part of the COVID-19 details that was with the ICMR. According to the report, the data samples have been verified and have been found to be the actual data. Additionally, News18 reported that the threat actor has put up the data for sale.

Countermeasures deployed

National cybersecurity agency Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) has informed ICMR of the data leak and all the top officials from several agencies have been roped in to work out if the details of Aadhaar and other IDs have actually been leaked or not. News18 further reported that to ensure damage control, standard SoP has been deployed. It is reported that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) will likely launch a probe into the matter once a complaint is filed by ICMR.