Is your aadhar safe ? | Mr.Jitendra
The data breach involving the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), which surfaced in October 2023, is considered one of the largest data security incidents in India's history. Overview of the Incident Scale of the Breach: Personal information of approximately 81.5 crore (815 million) Indian residents was allegedly compromised. Nature of Data: The leaked database reportedly contained highly sensitive personally identifiable information (PII), including: Full names Aadhaar card numbers Passport details Phone numbers and residential addresses Discovery: The breach was brought to public attention by the US-based cybersecurity firm Resecurity. They observed a threat actor using the alias "pwn0001" on a known dark web forum, who was attempting to sell the entire dataset for approximately $80,000. Source: The threat actor claimed the data was exfiltrated from the ICMR’s COVID-19 testing database. While the specific method of extraction was not disclosed by the actor, the breach highlighted significant vulnerabilities in the handling of large-scale health records. Government and Investigative Response CBI Investigation: Given the national security implications, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) launched an investigation into the matter. National Oversight: The incident was officially noted in reports by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) and examined by the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) as a major security incident of 2023. Status: As of 2026, experts and privacy advocates continue to emphasize the long-term risks this breach poses, such as potential identity theft and financial fraud, while calling for greater government transparency regarding the findings of the investigation. #ICMR #DataBreach #CyberSecurity #DataPrivacy
