Tech

COVID-19 Vaccination Records Leaked On Telegram Channel: Report

June 12, 2023
Bharat Times

Over the past two and a half years, a huge number of citizens nationwide have received their COVID-19 vaccinations from healthcare providers. While maintaining the confidentiality of citizen information is paramount, with the government entrusted with the responsibility of ensuring its security, a significant breach recently occurred. Details of these thousands of citizens have been leaked on a Telegram channel. The Fourth News, a Malayalam news portal, reported that the leaked data encompasses not only ordinary citizens but also prominent political figures and renowned personalities who had registered themselves on the government portal.

Remarkably, the Telegram channel includes comprehensive information such as an individual’s Aadhaar card, pan card, phone number, gender, and date of birth, among other details. Reportedly, one can access the information by simply entering a person’s name.

CoWIN Data Breach On Telegram

Apart from media outlets, a few people have been also reporting their data breach on the Telegram bot, which was reportedly taken down on Monday morning. As reported by the Malayalam portal, the CoWIN data breach resulted in the leak of major information including the person’s Aadhaar number, mobile number, name, date of birth, and more.

Apart from common civilians, personal details of Union Health Ministry Rajesh Bhushan, his wife-MLA Ritu Khanduri, CoWIN high power panel chairman Ram Sewak Sharma, Kerala Health Minister Veena George, Congress General Secretary KC Venugopal, and Union Minister of State Meenakshi Lekhi were also leaked on the portal.

Political Leaders React To COVID Data Leak

While the government is yet to directly comment on the development, a few political leaders have reacted to the same and shared it on social media.

In a series of tweets, MP Supriya Sule, while lashing out at the government, wrote, “The time has come for the government to step up and enact robust data protection legislation that unequivocally upholds our privacy. We demand action, transparency, and the assurance that our personal data will be shielded from any further breaches.”

MP Karti P Chidambaram, whose details were also leaked on the Telegram channel, shared a screenshot of his details and wrote, “In its Digital India frenzy, GoI has woefully ignored citizen privacy. Personal data of every single Indian who got COVID-19 vaccination is publicly available. Including my own data. Who let this happen? Why is GoI sitting on a data protection law? Ashwini Vaishnaw must answer.”

Trinamool Congress leader Saket Gokhale, while expressing concerns about the latest data breach, also shared a few screenshots of famous personalities, whose details were leaked by the portal.