Indian citizens have experienced a massive data breach that revealed confidential information that was publicly available on Telegram.
This breach included sensitive details of prominent lawmakers in the country, leading the Trinamool Congress to assert that the Modi government is unaware of this significant violation of big data.
Multiple Indian media outlets have reported that the compromised information includes crucial data such as the citizens’ Adhaar Card numbers, vaccination identification cards, gender, year of birth, vaccination center names, voter identification details, and PAN card numbers.
As reported by Malayala Manorama on Monday, the data breach occurred due to a vulnerability in the CoWIN portal, the platform where citizens registered their COVID vaccination information.
The report highlights that when a mobile number associated with the CoWIN portal is entered, the Telegram bot inadvertently exposes the corresponding data, making it accessible to anyone on the platform. This flaw in the system has contributed to the unauthorized disclosure of sensitive information.
According to a report from The News Minute, the personal information of several politicians was found to be easily accessible. This included details of notable individuals such as Kalvakuntla Taraka Rama Rao, Telangana’s Minister of Information and Communication Technology, Kanimozhi Karunanidhi, a Member of Lok Sabha from DMK, K Annamalai, the Tamil Nadu President of BJP, Karti Chidambaram, a Member of Lok Sabha from Congress, and Harsh Vardhan, a former Union Minister of Health from BJP.
The personal information of journalists and many other notable figures was also leaked.
