Centre blocks websites leaking citizens’ Aadhaar and PAN details
Individuals who suffered any damage could seek compensation through state-appointed adjudicating officers, the government said.
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The Centre on Thursday said that it has blocked several websites that were found to be exposing personal identifiable information, including Aadhaar and permanent account number details, of Indian citizens.
This followed an analysis of the websites by the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team that showed certain security flaws in the websites, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology said. This emergency response team, which comes under the ministry, deals with cyber security incidents.
The statement did not mention the websites that were blocked.
“This has been taken up seriously as the government accords highest priority to safe cyber security practices and protection of personal data,” the statement said.
It added: “The concerned websites owners have been provided guidance about the actions to be taken at their end for hardening the ICT [Information and Communication Technologies] infrastructures and fixing the vulnerabilities.”
The ministry also said that the Unique Identification Authority of India has filed a complaint with the police about the violation of Section 29(4) of the Aadhaar Act, 2016, which pertains to the public display of Aadhaar details.
Individuals who suffered any damage on account of their Aadhaar on PAN details being leaked could seek compensation through state-appointed adjudicating officers under the Information Technology Act. “The IT secretaries of the states are...
