Private Info Of School Children Leaked In Andhra Pradesh
While on one hand, there is clamour for Digital India, on the other hand, questions are now being raised over how safe people’s personal information is.
The latest matter is of a major lapse by the Andhra Pradesh (AP) government. The AP Intermediate Education Board, on its official website, posted private information of around 1 lakh students, such as their Aadhar Number, their photographs and information about their parents, without any cyber security measures.
Later, Robert Baptiste, a cybersecurity expert from France, through a tweet, drew the AP government’s attention towards the private information of school students becoming public, after which the page has been removed. Baptiste posted a tweet addressed to the AP CMO, which said, “One of your websites leaks personal data of students, including the Aadhar Number, photos and names of parents. Could you contact me personally to correct the situation immediately?” Baptiste said that contact was made with the government a few hours after this and taking cognizance of the matter, now the page in question has been taken down. While the AP government has not made any comment on this matter openly, the leaking of private information of citizens of the state from a government portal puts the government in the dock. Such negligence exposes the personal information of lakhs of people to hackers, who can misuse it in innumerable ways. This is not the only case of leakage of personal information. A case of selling phone numbers and email addresses of thousands of National Eligibility and Entrance Test (NEET) candidates for Rs 2 lakh had come to light in 2018.
Later, Robert Baptiste, a cybersecurity expert from France, through a tweet, drew the AP government’s attention towards the private information of school students becoming public, after which the page has been removed. Baptiste posted a tweet addressed to the AP CMO, which said, “One of your websites leaks personal data of students, including the Aadhar Number, photos and names of parents. Could you contact me personally to correct the situation immediately?” Baptiste said that contact was made with the government a few hours after this and taking cognizance of the matter, now the page in question has been taken down. While the AP government has not made any comment on this matter openly, the leaking of private information of citizens of the state from a government portal puts the government in the dock. Such negligence exposes the personal information of lakhs of people to hackers, who can misuse it in innumerable ways. This is not the only case of leakage of personal information. A case of selling phone numbers and email addresses of thousands of National Eligibility and Entrance Test (NEET) candidates for Rs 2 lakh had come to light in 2018.
Personal details of #AndhraPradesh's school students leaked on the official website of Andhra Pradesh Board of Intermediate #Education as it didn't have proper #cybersecurity measures @renu_garia
— GoNewsIndia (@GoNews_India) February 21, 2020
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