CoWIN app or database not breached directly: Union minister after data leak claims

NEW DELHI, JUNE 12 : Amid the Opposition’s claims of a possible data breach on the CoWIN portal, Union Minister of State for Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar said the ministry immediately reviewed the claims and found that CoWIN app or data has not been directly breached.

Several opposition leaders have claimed a major data breach on CoWIN portal wherein personal details of vaccinated people, including their mobile numbers, Aadhaar numbers, Passport numbers, Voter IDs and details of family members were leaked and “freely available” on the internet.

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Responding to the claims, Rajeev Chandrasekhar took to Twitter and said that a Telegram bot was throwing up CoWIN app details upon entry of phone numbers.

“The data being accessed by a bot from a threat actor database, which seems to have been populated with previously breached/stolen data stolen from past,” the Union minister said.

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Chandrasekhar also said that a National Data Governance policy has been finalised that will create a common framework of data storage, access and security standards across all government platforms.

After the alleged data breach report started making headlines, government sources clarified that CoWIN, the Covid-19 vaccination registration portal, does not collect any personal details of an individual.

They said the portal only collects the date when the individual has received either one dose or two doses or two doses and a precaution dose. The sources also said that the Health Ministry is investigating the matter and will check whether the leaked data was sourced through CoWIN or some other application.

-The India Today