Hyderabad: 7.8 Cr Aadhaar data stolen for TDP app

Hyderabad: On the complaint of Unique Identification Authority of India, Cyberabad police had registered a case against Hyderabad IT Company, IT Grids (India).

The UIDAI alleged that the company was in possession of Aadhaar data of over 7.8 crore resident of TS and AP. It is also alleged that IT Grid Company (India) was using base data to develop TDP’s Seva Mitra app.

According to the sources, the case might be transferred to SIT, which is probing the data theft case.

During the investigation, a search was conducted at IT Grids company in Madhapur. Seven hard disks and other digital evidences were seized from there.

According to the police, the sealed digital evidence was sent to the Telangana State Forensic Science Laboratory (TSFSL) for forensic examination.

The UIDAI officials who filed the complaint say that the TSFSL report shows that the seized hard disks have data related to the base of 78,221,397 residents of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh which had the fields of – UID_NUM, EID_NUM, CITIZEN_NAME, FATHER_HUSBAND_ GUARDIAN_ NAME, DOB_DT, VILLAGE NAME, MANDAL NAME, DISTRICT_ID, DISTRICT NAME, PIN CODE, VTC_CODE, VTC_NAME, CITIZEN_ PHONE NO, GENDER, STATECODE, STATENAME, CITIZEN_ NAME_ LOCAL, CAREOF_NAME_ Local.

The structure and size of the database from the IT grid is exactly the same, as is the case with UIDAI. According to the police, they have been used by IT Grids Company for service friend app.

The presence of HID_NUM raises a strong suspicion that the data could have been obtained either from Central Identities Data Repository (CIDR) or one of the State Resident Data Hubs (SRDH) aligned to CIDR.

The suspect being in possession of such a sensitive database in a removable storage is in contravention of Section 38(g), Section 38(h) of Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act, 2016.

While rejecting the charges of data theft TDP demanded the case to be transferred from Telangana to Andhra Pradesh.