The government has collected the biometrics of 1.2 billion Indians under the Aadhaar scheme till date. And time and again, concerns about the privacy of citizens and how secure the database is have been raised.
In an attempt to quell doubts, Attorney General KK Venugopal recently said in the Supreme Court that the Aadhaar data was safe and secure, as the Central Identities Data Repository was protected by a wall which is 13 feet high and five feet thick.
The A-G was arguing before a five-judge constitution bench which was hearing petitions questioning the privacy of data collated for Aadhaar.
While social media users began to wonder what physical walls had to do with digital security, Takshashila Institution Director Nitin Pai pointed out that the physical security of data centres was important.
I know a lot of people are poking fun at the AG’s comments on the thickness of walls. 13ft thick walls are an exaggeration but physical security of data centres is important. (NB. I was involved in building data centres once upon a time) https://t.co/IIPkKMXKGk
— Nitin Pai (@acorn) March 22, 2018
Thick concrete walls, reinforced with materials like steel or Kevlar are necessary. The thickness depends on how big an explosive impact you want to protect the data centre from. You might be surprised how thick some of these walls can be.
— Nitin Pai (@acorn) March 22, 2018
In other words, wrong to assume that thickness of walls is a laughing matter.
— Nitin Pai (@acorn) March 22, 2018
In fact, after the Bhuj earthquake, the better telcos started designing walls that would collapse outwards in case they did. So data centre designing is pretty cool. We go OCD about things like power, carrier, fibre diversity.
— Nitin Pai (@acorn) March 22, 2018
However, the fact that the A-G chose to highlight this at a time when there are multiple reports of Aadhaar data being compromised online wasn’t lost on Twitterati.
May be the wall is made of Ambuja cement.. #Aadhaar #AadhaarFail
— Mojo Jojo (@MojoJojo_real) March 23, 2018
Attorney General K K Venugopal needs to be pulled up. Ten meter walls protects Aadhar data? How could he forget the real fortification- the 56 inch chest. #Aadhaar #India #Righttoprivacy #citizenrights #SupremeCourt
— Rahul Biddappa (@rahulbiddappa) March 23, 2018
You couldn't make this stuff up- 'Aadhaar data is secure behind walls that are 13 feet high and five feet thick, the govt top lawyer said' https://t.co/wSJ0e8oHGz
— Gargi Rawat (@GargiRawat) March 21, 2018
Your #Aadhaar data is behind these walls .. : AG
— Shuvankar Mukherjee (@shuvankr) March 22, 2018
OG Lo-G Suno-G pic.twitter.com/slvpLjc2Da
Government saves data from hackers*
— Karuna Nundy (@karunanundy) March 22, 2018
*with shorter ladders. https://t.co/o9qq4p4023
And should #Aadhaar data ever leak through the 13 feet wall I'm sure Govt. has a team of masons available round the clock to plug the leak. Mind it you anti-nationals.
— Sumanth Raman (@sumanthraman) March 22, 2018
Leaked footage of a hacker who wanted to steal Aadhaar data, thwarted by UIDAI's wall pic.twitter.com/QumNRUBzfD
— Rohin Dharmakumar (@r0h1n) March 21, 2018
Looking for the Aadhaar wall pic.twitter.com/NDY23FCCpu
— Rohan Venkataramakrishnan (@RohanV) March 22, 2018
Modiji has also hanged Nimboo-Mirchi and a photo of Rahul Dravid on the 13 feet long wall to have an additional layer of protection for the safety of #Aadhaar data.
— Advaid (@Advaidism) March 22, 2018
Thank you, Government https://t.co/eCoKKLzcBv
Any info on Roof thickness ? . Aadhaar data kept behind 13-ft thick walls: Attorney General to SC https://t.co/HMsnGmeL8N pic.twitter.com/NBZ7xXjDTn
— praveen kuruganti (@praveenknv) March 22, 2018
The wall safeguarding your #Aadhaar data. Cow dung helps shielding the data from radiation in case of nuclear attack. #HowILearnedToLoveTheAadhaar pic.twitter.com/Lma9wiUJ5Q
— Girish (@GirishNaught) March 22, 2018
It is just as well that KK Venugopal didn't say that Aadhaar data is safe because of Rahul Dravid, the great wall.
— Salil Tripathi (@saliltripathi) March 21, 2018
During Gulf War, Iraqi army used to steal Computer Monitors from Kuwait to get the data.
— Kapil (@kapsology) March 21, 2018
Same level of awesomeness https://t.co/BHBm1YF4Pg
Inspired by Trump we're building our own walls now - to protect, er, digital data. Centre tells court that Aadhaar data is safe because it's protected by thick walls. https://t.co/DHsbIKwvGE
— Radhika Santhanam (@radhikasan) March 21, 2018
#AadhaarMemes #DataSecurity #VanduMurugan #Aadhaar is safe because Data centre has walls that are 13ft high and 5ft in thickness. pic.twitter.com/CMoKi1yMrl
— Srikanth (@logic) March 21, 2018
On Thursday, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) told the apex court that the biometric and demographic information of people who have enrolled for Aadhaar was secure, while no one will lose benefits for its lack.
Noting that data matching software has been bought from the world's three best companies and stored on UIDAI's 6,000 servers, UIDAI CEO Ajay Bhushan Pandey said that these are not linked to internet to eliminate the possibility of any backdoor access to the data.
The UIDAI also state that the Aadhaar data is protected by a 2048-encryption key which will take a supercomputer over 13 billion years to crack.
It may be noted here that a few months ago, The Tribune had reported on the alleged breach of Aadhaar data security. In an investigative piece published on January 3, 2018, Rachna reported that anonymous sellers over WhatsApp were allegedly providing unrestricted access to details for any of the more than 1 billion Aadhaar numbers created in India thus far.
Soon after the report was published, the deputy director of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) reportedly filed an FIR against the publication and the reporter. The body came under heavy criticism for targeting the reporter who exposed a flaw in the system instead of addressing the issue.
With IANS inputs