Aadhaar security lapse: Bengaluru tech firm accesses Aadhaar database, leaks info on Android app

In yet another case exposing the weak security features of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) system, a private firm in Bengaluru accessed Aadhaar’s database and leaked information in an Android-based app.

Ashok Lenin, Deputy Director of UIDAI, filed a complaint against Abhinav Shrivastava and others of Qarth Technologies Pvt Ltd for allegedly leaking Aadhaar data.

In the complaint, Lenin says that the accused developed an Android app available on Google Play Store to provide e-KYC documents for customers.

The New Indian Express reported that according to the complaint, UIDAI officials suspect that the accused had an inside connection that helped him access the database and leak the information to Qarth Technologies.

Accessing secure Aadhaar database and leaking information from the same is an offence under Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act 2016, IT Act and IPC.

The NIE quoted Pronab Mohanty, Deputy Director General, UIDAI, saying that the case has been filed in Bengaluru. “However, it does not pertain to the Bengaluru regional office,” he said.

According to UIDAI sources, the complaint was filed based on an alert provided by the head office in Delhi.Sources added that the app had been removed from the App Store and the only connection to Bengaluru in the case was that the founder of the company was from Bengaluru.

Bengaluru’s High Ground Police registered the case against Qarth Technologies. The firm was incorporated in 2012 in Kolkata and is based out of Science and Technology Entrepreneurs’ Park, IIT Kharagpur, West Bengal. Abhinav Srivastava (accused) and Prerit Srivastava are the directors of the firm
 

• Aadhaar information
• Bengaluru firm
• Android app
• Google Play Store