Govt Probing Alleged CoWIN Data Leak On Telegram

The government is investigating reports of a major privacy breach on CoWIN portal, the Covid-19 vaccination registration portal, wherein personal details of vaccinated people were leaked on the social media application Telegram.

The opposition has claimed personal information of senior politicians and journalists including their mobile numbers, Aadhaar numbers, Passport numbers, Voter IDs, and details of family members were freely available on the portal.

"It is old data, we are still verifying it. We are working on a detailed report on the alleged CoWIN data leak," ANI reported quoting government sources.

"The information is being examined right now," they said.

Trinamool Congress on Monday alleged that the data of several citizens, including politicians and journalists who took Covid vaccine, has been leaked on the social media application Telegram.

TMC Spokesperson Saket Gokhale claimed that personal details like mobile numbers, Aadhaar numbers, Passport, Voter IDs and details of family members are freely available online.

"There has been a MAJOR data breach of Modi Govt where personal details of ALL vaccinated Indians including their mobile nos., Aadhaar numbers, Passport numbers, Voter ID, Details of family members, etc. have been leaked and are freely available," Gokhale tweeted.

"This is a matter of national concern", he said. The leaked data includes Aadhaar card numbers, along with gender, date of birth, and vaccination centre of senior leaders such as Rajya Sabha MP and TMC leader Derek O'Brien, former union minister P Chidambaram, Congress leaders Jairam Ramesh and KC Venugopal.

Gokhale also claimed that the leaked data also included details of health secretary Rajesh Bhushan, deputy chairman Rajya Sabha Haribansh Narayan Singh, Rajya Sabha MPs Sushmita Dev, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, and Sanjay Raut.

Congress MP Karti Chidambaram also hit out at Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw over the issue.

"In its Digital India frenzy, the government has woefully ignored citizen privacy. The personal data of every single Indian who got the COVID-19 vaccination is publicly available. Including my own data. Who let this happen? Why is the government sitting on a data protection law? Ashwini Vaishnaw must answer," Karti tweeted.