Was the data leaked from Cowin Portal? Personal details of crores of people are available on Telegram

Cowin Data Leak: A shocking report has come out regarding the data leak. It has been claimed on Monday that the details of personal information, Aadhaar card and passport of Indian citizens were leaked on the messaging platform Telegram. According to a report by Malayala Manorama, the data leak has happened from Kovid vaccination portal Covin, in which people had entered their personal details.

According to the report, when the mobile number registered with the Covin portal is entered on the Telegram bot, the ID card number used for vaccination along with gender, DOB and the name of the vaccination center and its dose is disclosed. With this data breach, Aadhaar Card, Voter ID and Passport numbers of Indian citizens were available to everyone on Telegram. When vaccine doses were available, people used to book slots for multiple family members with a single mobile number. According to the report, if many people had registered with the entered mobile number, then the Telegram bot is showing the details of all of them in one go.

There are several Opposition leaders which include:

1. Rajya Sabha MP & TMC Leader Derek O'Brien

2. Former Union Minister P. Chidambaram

3. Congress leaders Jairam Ramesh & K.C. Venugopal@derekobrienmp @PChidambaram_IN @Jairam_Ramesh @kcvenugopalmp

(2/7) pic.twitter.com/JnD5EKhPBO

— Saket Gokhale (@SaketGokhale) June 12, 2023

Trinamool Congress (TMC) spokesperson Saket Gokhale has also alleged that Covin's data was leaked. He has also shared screenshots related to the leak on the microblogging platform Twitter. It can be seen in this that the data of many politicians and journalists including former Home and Finance Minister P Chidambaram has been claimed to be leaked.

According to the report of Malayalam Daily, Union Health Ministry Secretary Rajesh Bhushan was among the victims of the leak. When his number was entered, along with the last four characters of the Aadhaar number and DOB, the details of his wife Ritu Khanduri Bhushan, MLA from Kotdwar, Uttarakhand, also surfaced. While the One Time Password (OTP) facility was also provided in the Covin portal. . It is not yet known how the data leaked on Telegram? In 2021, reports claimed that India's vaccine registration portal Covin has been hacked and the database of 150 million people is up for sale. Many cyber security researchers denied the claim, calling the website behind it fake.