No leak, biometric data safe, says UIDAI

NEW DELHI: UIDAI rejected on Tuesday a report about online leak of Aadhaar numbers and bank accounts linked with them. A report by a Bangalore-based organisation, based on an investigation of three government portals linked with social welfare schemes, said the number of Aadhaar numbers leaked through these portals could be around 13 crore and the number of bank account numbers leaked at around 10 crore.

"There is no data leak and this particular report does not pertain to UIDAI," said A B P Pandey, CEO of UIDAI. "While Aadhaar numbers are available, the biometric information is not. The biometric details are in safe custody. The leaked databases do not pose a real threat to the people whose information is publicly available because the Aadhaar number cannot be misused without biometrics," said a government official.

Another official said just as bank accounts are not supposed to be made public there is a provision in the Aadhaar Act that prohibits putting Aadhaar details in public domain. However, the official said that Aadhaar number is not confidential just as bank account number which is mentioned in cheque books and shared with lot of people.