Another Aadhaar howler? EPFO data stolen by hackers

Vulnerabilities related to the security of Aadhaar data once again came to the fore following reports of hackers stealing EPFO data.

In a letter dated March 23, Central Provident Fund Commissioner, VP Joy, said that the Intelligence Bureau had provided leads of "hackers exploiting the vulnerabilities prevailing in the website (aadhaar.epfoservices.com) of EPFO".

The letter has been addressed to the Common Services Team (Delhi) of MeitY. As of now, servers and other hosted services on the EPFO website are offline.

But later in the day, UIDAI issued a statement saying that no confirmed data leakage has been established or observed so far.

“The said website does not belong to UIDAI in any manner whatsoever. This matter does not pertain at all to any Aadhaar data breach from UIDAI servers. There is absolutely no breach into Aadhaar database of UIDAI. Aadhaar data remains safe and secure," UIDAI said in a statement.

Currently, out of 4.6 crore contributing members, as many as 2.75 crore have linked their Aadhaar with their PF accounts. However, out of 2.75 crore, 1.25 crore Aadhaar numbers have been verified.