UIDAI data centre hacking not ruled out

The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) today did not rule out the possibility of hacking of its data centre and suggested that security should be put in place.

"(As far as) data centre hacking, we have to be alert. Securities have to be put in place to ensure that data is not accessed in any unauthorised manner," Director General of UIDAI R S Sharma while replying to a query on whether there was any threat from hackers.

It was the world's largest biometric data base and was the most impressive project in terms of data complexities and other parameters, he told reporters here. Sharma, however, said no one could know the identity of persons from Aadhaar numbers as they were random numbers, and identify could not be ascertained.

The UIDAI's mandate is to issue every resident a unique identification number named Aadhaar linked to the resident's demographic and biometric information, which they can use to identify themselves anywhere in India, and to access a host of benefits and services.

Asserting that the UIDAI was on the right pace in generating Aadhaar numbers, he said 20 crore people were enrolled since the launch of the project on September 29 last year. Aadhaar numbers were being generated at the rate of one million per day, he said.